According to the New York Times, Google co-founder Sergey Brin issued an internal memo late Wednesday urging employees to work in the office at least every working day. He said companies could achieve breakthroughs in artificial general intelligence (AGI) if employees worked harder and stayed in the office more.
According to the memo seen by The New York Times, Brin told employees developing the Gemini chatbot, Google AI models and applications: I recommend staying in the office at least every workday. A 60-hour work week is the optimal time to achieve maximum productivity. "
Brin's memo does not represent a change in Google's official return-to-work policy, which requires employees to work in the office at least three days a week. A Google spokesman declined to comment.
Still, the memo highlights Brin’s belief that AGI may be on the horizon. AGI refers to the stage where machines reach or exceed human intelligence. He also further clarified how Google was able to achieve this technological leap. "The competition has accelerated tremendously, and the final race to AGI has begun. I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we must step up our efforts." Brin said.
Brin emphasized that Google employees need to use Google AI more for programming, and said that the self-improvement of AI will promote the realization of AGI. He also called on employees involved in the Gemini project to "become the most efficient programmers and AI scientists in the world by using our own AI."