Former Google Boss Accuses "WFH" of Making Companies Competitive in AI

Eric Schmidt(actconsulting)

HOLIDAY NEWS - Former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt recently issued a statement that is considered quite controversial.

While giving a public lecture at Stanford University, Schmidt said that working from home made Google lose competitiveness in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. He made this statement when professor Erik Brynjolfsson said that Anthropic, with its Anthropic Claude, was the company with the best AI model last July. The ranking was curated by AI evaluation company Galileo. Brynjolfsson then asked Schmidt why Google "lost" the AI competition.

"Google decided balancing work life and going home early and WFH were more important than winning," Schmidt said.

"The reason why startups can be successful is because people work very hard," said the 2001-2011 Google CEO, summarized by Entrepreneur. "Sorry if I'm too blunt. "However, the fact is that if you all graduate from university and start companies, you won't have people working from home and only coming in one day a week, if you want to compete with other startups," said Schmidt.

This statement then sparked controversy, after a snippet of the video was uploaded to the microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter).

Many X users think that Schmidt should not blame employees if they "lose" in the AI competition.

"Oh yes. It's the employees' fault. It's not management that should be responsible for managing projects and workers. It's like avoidance," quipped one X user with the handle @rambalinwreck.

"When I WFH, I work twice as long as in the office! Lazy, incompetent leaders who actually reduce productivity! Managing WFH employees is not easy, but worth it," said another user with the handle @LainieEKC, summarized from The Street.

Admit it's wrong

Realizing that his statement had sparked controversy, Schmidt immediately admitted that what he had said was not quite right.

"I misspoke about Google and their hours. I regret my mistake," Schmidt said in an e-mail sent to the Wall Street Journal.

This lecture session was previously uploaded to the Stanford of Engineering YouTube channel, Tuesday (13/8/2024). However, the video has now been deleted at Schmidt's request after his statement was widely discussed. Meanwhile, the employee union of Goolge and other Alphabet subsidiaries, namely the Alphabet Workers Union, opposed Schmidt's statement.

They said the option to work flexibly was not the reason for the decline in company productivity.

"Employee shortages, changing priorities, constant layoffs, stagnant wages, and a lack of management follow-up on projects, these are the factors that are actually slowing down Google workers every day," they wrote in X, citing news stories about Schmidt's statements.

Mantan Bos Google Tuding "WFH" Bikin Perusahaan Kalah Saing soal AI

HOLIDAY NEWS - Mantan CEO Google, Eric Schmidt baru-baru ini mengeluarkan pernyataan yang dianggap cukup kontroversial.

Saat memberikan kuliah umum di Standford University, Schmidt mengatakan bahwa work from home (bekerja dari rumah/wfh) membuat Google kalah saing dalam perlombaan kecerdasan buatan/artificial intelligence (AI).

Pernyataan itu ia lontarkan saat profesor Erik Brynjolfsson mengatakan, bahwa Anthropic, dengan Anthropic Claude-nya menjadi perusahaan dengan model AI terbaik bulan Juli lalu. Peringkat itu dikurasi oleh perusahaan pengevaluasi AI, Galileo.

Brynjolfsson kemudian menanyakan kepada Schmidt, mengapa Google "kalah" dalam persaingan AI tersebut.

"Google memutuskan, menyeimbangkan kehidupan kerja dan pulang ke rumah lebih awal, serta WFH lebih penting dibanding menang," kata Schmidt.

"Alasan mengapa startup bisa berhasil adalah karena orang-orang bekerja sangat keras," kata CEO Google 2001-2011 itu, dirangkum dari Enterpreneur.

"Maaf kalau saya terlalu blak-blakan. Namun, faktanya adalah apabila kalian semua lulus dari universitas dan mendirikan perusahaan, kalian tidak akan membiarkan orang-orang bekerja dari rumah dan hanya datang satu hari dalam seminggu, apabila kalian ingin bersaing dengan startup lainnya," imbu Schmidt.

Pernyataan ini kemudian memicu kontroversi, setelah potongan videonya diunggah ke platform mikroblogging X (dulu Twitter).

Banyak pengguna X beranggapan bahwa Schmidt seharusnya tidak menyalahan karyawan apabila mereka "kalah" dalam persaingan AI.

"Oh ya. Memang salah karyawan. Bukan manajemen yang seharusnya bertanggungjawab untuk mengatur proyek dan pekerja. Seperti penghindaran," sindir salah satu pengguna X dengan handle @rambalinwreck.

"Saat saya WFH, saya bekerja dua kali lipat lebih lama dibanding di kantor! Pemimimpin malas yang tidak kompeten yang sebenarnya membuat produktivitas menurun! Mengatur karyawan WFH memang tidak mudah, tapi sepadan" ujar pengguna lain dengan handle @LainieEKC, dirangkum dari The Street.

Akui salah

Menyadari bahwa pernyataannya memicu kontroversi, Schmidt segera mengakui bahwa yang ia katakan kurang tepat.

"Saya salah bicara tentang Google dan jam kerja mereka. Saya menyesali kesalahan saya," kata Schmidt dalam e-mail yang dikirim kepada Wall Street Journal.

Sesi kuliah ini sebelumnya diunggah ke kanal YouTube Standford of Engineering, Selasa (13/8/2024). Akan tetapi, video itu kini sudah dihapus atas permintaan Schmidt setelah pernyataannya ramai diperbincangkan.

Sementara itu, serikat kerja karyawan Goolge dan anak perusahaan Alphabet lainnya, yakni Alphabet Workers Union, menentang pernyataan Schmidt.

Mereka mengatakan opsi bekerja secara fleksibel bukan lah alasan menurunnya produktivitas perusahaan.

"Kekurangan karyawan, perubahan prioritas, PHK terus-menerus, upah yang stagnan, dan kurangnya tindak lanjut manajemen terhadap proyek, faktor-faktor ini lah yang sebenarnya memperlambat pekerja Google setiap hari," tulis mereka di X dengan mengutip berita tentang pernyataan Schmidt.