Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has blamed the tech giant’s work-from-home policies for falling behind in the AI race.
One professor asked Schmidt why he thought Google had lost its lead to startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. The conversation with the Stanford University student was posted to YouTube on Tuesday..
“Google decided that work-life balance and going home early and working from home was more important than winning,” the former CEO said.
“Startups succeed because people work hard,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt, who has a net worth of $23.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine, took the helm at Google in 2001 and served as CEO until 2011, then as chairman until 2015.
He later served as a technical advisor to parent company Alphabet, but left the company in 2020.
“I’m sorry to be blunt with you,” Schmidt told the Stanford students, “but the reality is, if you go out and start a company, if you want to compete with other startups, you’re not going to be able to let your employees work from home or come in just one day a week.”
Stanford University professor Erik Brynjolfsson said he asked current Google CEO Sander Pichai the same question but “didn’t get a very clear answer.”
Some studies have found that employees are less productive when working from home, and that managers “perceive” their employees to be less productive when working remotely. Other studies have found the exact opposite.
Google has opted for a hybrid work policy, with the tech giant requiring employees to come to the office around three days a week. According to the 2022 report.
Hybrid appears to be a popular choice: About 74% of U.S. companies reported that they are using or plan to use a permanent hybrid work model in 2023. According to a report from Zippia:.
Google reportedly emailed employees last summer saying it would track badge swipes to monitor attendance at the office.
Orders to return to the office often lead to employees being laid off, with 47% of employees saying they would quit their job if their employer required full-time in-person work. According to a study by the Integrated Benefits Institute.
But Google isn’t the only tech giant to adopt a hybrid work schedule: OpenAI has also adopted the same three-day work schedule. According to a report by Fortune magazine:.
Google appears to be struggling in the AI race, having failed to release an AI chatbot before OpenAI’s wildly popular ChatGPT.
An early rival chatbot, Bard, did not become a major competitor to ChatGPT after its launch.
And Google’s more sophisticated Gemini was launched with a glitch that hindered its ability to produce images, which Pichai called “completely unacceptable.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
