On August 13th, Stanford University released a video of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's public lecture from April this year on a video platform. In the video, when asked why Google lags behind OpenAI in the competition in the AI field, Schmidt is full of fire, criticizing Google's remote work policy and stating that Google employees are lax and only work one day a week.
After the video was released, Schmidt's words quickly sparked widespread controversy. The video was taken down within 24 hours of its release. On August 16th, according to foreign media reports, Schmidt expressed his apologies in an email, saying, "My previous remarks about Google and its remote work policy were incorrect, and I deeply regret it
Since the development of AI technology, Google has always been regarded as the "Whampoa Military Academy" in the field of artificial intelligence. In the past decade, many groundbreaking and innovative works in the field of artificial intelligence have been created by Google. Currently, the core architecture of almost all large models, Transformer, originates from Google's iconic paper "Attention Is All You Need" published in 2017.
However, in the wave of generative AI, compared to OpenAI, Google appears to be taking a slightly slower pace. Whether it's the industry sensation ChatGPT or the Sora World Simulator, Google seems to be one step behind OpenAI.
In a public course video released by Stanford University, the professor posed a question to Schmidt, asking why Google lags behind OpenAI in the competition in the AI field. Schmidt bluntly stated that Google employees are now too "enjoying" work life balance, resulting in the company losing its motivation and losing to OpenAI.
Schmidt said that Google's current remote work is the "culprit", and employees believe that going home early to spend time with their families is more important than achieving success at work. Schmidt added, "If you start a business after graduating from college, you won't allow employees to work from home and only come to the company one day a week
Schmidt cited the example of "King of Rolls" Elon Musk and the employees of xAI, saying, "Although we don't like Elon Musk's personal behavior, look at his employees. One time, I had dinner with Musk and he had to catch a plane to attend xAI's late night meeting at 10 pm
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Schmidt also talked about his views on the collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI, stating that his attitude has gone through a process from initial skepticism to current recognition.
When Microsoft partnered with OpenAI, I thought it was the dumbest idea I had ever heard. It was almost equivalent to outsourcing leadership in the field of artificial intelligence to OpenAI, a startup, and Sam Altman's team. To be honest, I thought the decision was too crazy at the time, and it was hard to imagine Microsoft or any other industry giant making such a choice
He added, "But today, they are on the path to becoming one of the most valuable companies. Obviously, the collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI has shown strong competitiveness, and they are directly challenging tech giants such as Apple. Given that Apple currently lacks strong AI solutions, it seems that Microsoft and OpenAI have taken the lead in this competition, and it looks like they have succeeded
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Schmidt's remarks about remote work have ignited the anger of many "working people", and netizens have expressed dissatisfaction with Schmidt's remarks on social media platforms.
A netizen said, "Those who say we need to work in the office don't seem to be staying in the office at all
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Some netizens also expressed, "Even if you arrive at the office, it doesn't necessarily mean you will work seriously. Truly focused people can work efficiently no matter where they are, and even achieve a work efficiency of 200%
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Some netizens believe that Google's poor performance is not the fault of its employees, but rather a problem with its own outdated products. Don't expect Google to work as hard as a startup anymore. Blaming employees for current problems is actually covering up the problem of outdated products
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Faced with the "siege" from netizens, Schmidt stated that he has requested Stanford University to remove this video. As of press time, this video has been set as a private video and cannot be played.
On August 16th, according to foreign media reports, Schmidt expressed his apologies in an email, saying, "My previous remarks about Google and its remote work policy were incorrect, and I deeply regret it
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