Google employee said pitching new AI products wasn't worth it because of the company's 'bureaucratic roadblocks,' report says

Beatrice Nolan
Updated ·2 min read
48
Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a panel at the CEO Summit of the Americas.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

  • Former and current Google staff told The Information the firm had taken a cautious approach to AI.

  • One current employee said "bureaucratic roadblocks" made pitching new AI products difficult.

  • Google has announced plans to launch an AI-boosted version of Search and unveiled an AI chatbot.

A Google employee told The Information they felt pitching new AI products usually wasn't worth the effort because of "bureaucratic roadblocks."

Former and current Google employees told the outlet the company had taken a cautious approach to AI development internally.

Per the Information, two former employees at Google Brain, Alphabet's AI division, said product initiatives were marked by excess caution and red tape, prompting some employees to look for opportunities elsewhere.

Another ex-Google Brain employee told the outlet they felt managers hadn't given some teams the resources needed to train AI models the way OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, had.

At least twelve former Google employees have reportedly migrated to OpenAI. Five of the ex-Googlers were hired to put the finishing touches on the viral chatbot before it launched in November, The Information reported.

Google has been keen to position itself as a responsible force when it comes to AI. The company has opted not to widely share some technology, such as text-to-image AI programs, even as other companies launched similar products, per The Information.

However, the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT reportedly prompted Google management to declare a "code red" in December. The chatbot proved to be wildly popular with users and Microsoft capitalized on its early investment in OpenAI by incorporating the tech into its Bing search engine.

Google has since announced similar plans to launch an AI-boosted version of its search engine and has unveiled its own AI chatbot, Bard.

Google did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider