Google Cloud's CEO says he doesn't buy into the hype that AI is going to automate everyone's jobs (www.businessinsider.com)

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian pushed back on doomsday predictions that AI will automate everyone's jobs, telling Big Technology he sees AI as a bridge that expands what workers and companies can do rather than a wholesale replacer. Citing Google Cloud’s Customer Engagement Suite — a set of AI-powered customer service tools — Kurian said early fears that agents would be laid off largely didn’t materialize: “almost none of our clients have let anyone go.” He framed AI’s role as closing the gap between today’s capabilities and future ambitions, striking a “middle ground” between hype and panic. For the AI/ML community, Kurian’s stance underscores a practical adoption narrative: enterprise AI is trending toward augmentation, not pure automation. Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s related remark that AI boosted engineering productivity by about 10% (and is leading to more hiring) reinforces that these systems are accelerating workflows—handling repetitive tasks and enabling more creative work. Technically, this implies continued investment in cloud-hosted, assistant-style models, conversational/self-service interfaces, and tooling that improves throughput without eliminating human oversight. The takeaway: focus on building human+AI systems, change management, and reskilling to capture the productivity upside while managing real-world deployment risks.