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Google Pledges Engineering Hires as Firms Diverge on AI Automation

A looming economic slowdown is accelerating AI adoption, prompting divergent strategies on workforce displacement versus skill development.

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A general view of the Google DeepMind offices after the announcement that Founder and CEO Demis Hassabis and senior research scientist, John M. Jumper, received the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry on October 9, 2024 in London, England.
Google DeepMind Founder and CEO Demis Hassabis poses for a photograph after the announcement that he and John M. Jumper, a senior research scientist at DeepMind, received the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry on October 9, 2024 in London, England. Two Google DeepMind employees shared the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with David Baker, of the University of Washington, for discoveries related to the structure of proteins.

Overview

  • Economists warn that slower U.S. growth could drive more companies to fast-track AI tools for cost cuts, risking accelerated job losses in entry-level roles.
  • Sundar Pichai described AI as an “accelerator” that boosts engineer productivity and said Google will expand its engineering workforce into next year.
  • Major employers like IBM have replaced hundreds of HR roles with AI agents and Klarna cut then rehired customer-support staff after bots fell short.
  • Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Oxford Economics caution that up to 50 percent of entry-level white-collar jobs could vanish within five years, with recent-graduate unemployment already rising.
  • Policy experts from Brookings and beyond call for comprehensive labor-market data and large-scale reskilling programs to help workers adapt to AI-driven change.