Sergey Brin says RTO is key to Google winning the AGI race

Google co-founder Sergey Brin sent a memo to employees this week urging them to return to the office “at least every weekday” in order to help the company win the AGI race, The New York Times reports. Brin told employees that working 60 hours a week is a “sweet spot” for productivity.

While Brin’s memo is not an official policy change for Google, which requires workers to come to work in person three days a week, it does show the pressure Silicon Valley giants are feeling to compete in AI. The memo also indicates that Brin believes Google could build AGI, a superintelligent AI system on par with human intelligence.

Brin has reportedly returned to Google in recent years to help the company regain its footing in the AI race. Google was caught by surprise by OpenAI’s 2022 release of ChatGPT, but has worked diligently to catch up with industry leading AI models of its own.