Overview

• In a new Big Technology interview, Thomas Kurian says AI should act as an amplifier of human work rather than a substitute.
• Kurian cites Google Cloud’s Customer Engagement Suite and says almost none of its clients reduced customer-service headcount after adoption.
• Sundar Pichai has reported roughly a 10% productivity lift for Google engineers and says the company plans to hire more, with over 30% of new code now AI-generated.
• Tension persists as Wired reported that more than 200 contractors working on Google’s Gemini were recently laid off through GlobalLogic.
• Independent analyses describe early, uneven labor effects with task-level automation rising and entry-level roles appearing more exposed, even as some firms report gains like GitHub Copilot writing 40% of Microsoft’s code.