Google overhauls internal learning platform to focus on AI, ‘business priorities’
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, speaks during an event in New Delhi, December 19, 2022.
Sajjad Hussain | AFP | Getty Images
Google is overhauling a popular internal learning platform to focus on teaching employees how to use modern artificial intelligence tools in their daily work routines, CNBC has learned.
Grow, as the learning service is called, was previously filled with a wide array of courses, ranging from teaching Google employees how to build products, use 3D printers, help with their personal finance or even how to solve a Rubik’s cube. Those offerings have all been replaced primarily by AI-related courses.
The revamp underscores how companies, both within and outside of tech, are racing to train their employees on the advanced AI tools that have been created since OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 ushered in the age of generative AI.
Employees with previously scheduled Grow sessions were notified in the spring that the sessions they signed up for would be cancelled and that course materials would be archived, according to internal correspondence viewed by CNBC. Grow, which was started more than 10 years ago, had grown to more than 500,000 listings before the AI shakeup. Grow is popular among employees and is considered to be one of the unique perks of working at Google, according to sources and an internal discussion forum.
“We have an active learning culture with numerous in-house courses tied to company priorities, along with generous educational reimbursement,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Our internal course offerings have ballooned since we launched it ten years ago, and we’re refreshing Grow to help employees find the most relevant learning opportunities.”
The move to overhaul Grow shows that Google is shifting away from some of its nice-to-have programs to more business-essential offerings as it streamlines operations to prioritize AI. As the company fights to retain its relevance in search amid a heated AI arms race, it has streamlined operations, headcount and employee benefits.
Google has enacted rolling layoffs within several units across the company, particularly after finance chief Anat Ashkenazi’s said last fall that the company could “push a little further” on cost cuts. Google, like many other tech giants, has also rolled back programs like its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, trainings amid business streamlining as well as from President Trump’s executive orders.
In a memo sent out to employees who had created Grow courses, Google leaders wrote that many of the platform’s “courses were unused,” and “not relevant to the work we do today,” according to an internal message.
“Those that orgs have confirmed are up-to-date and focused on business priorities will still be available,” wrote Google’s people operations staff.
Employees commented on an internal forum that the use of “focused on business priorities” reiterated a sign of the times — Google is primarily focused on programs that contribute to the bottom line.
WATCH: Google is ahead on AI, so we’re not dovish the stock, says Constellation’s Ray Wang
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a keynote speech during the Meta Connect annual event, at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25, 2024.
Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said Shengjia Zhao, the co-creator of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, will serve as the chief scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs.
Zuckerberg has been on a multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence hiring blitz in recent weeks, highlighted by a $14 billion investment in Scale AI. In June, Zuckerberg announced a new organization called Meta Superintelligence Labs that’s made up of top AI researchers and engineers.
Zhao’s name was listed among other new hires in the June memo, but Zuckerberg said Friday that Zhao co-founded the lab and “has been our lead scientist from day one.” Zhao will work directly with Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI who is acting as Meta’s chief AI officer.
“Shengjia has already pioneered several breakthroughs including a new scaling paradigm and distinguished himself as a leader in the field,” Zuckerberg wrote in a social media post. “I’m looking forward to working closely with him to advance his scientific vision.”
In addition to co-creating ChatGPT, Zhao helped build OpenAI’s GPT-4, mini models, 4.1 and o3, and he previously led synthetic data at OpenAI, according to Zuckerberg’s June memo.
Meta Superintelligence Labs will be where employees work on foundation models such as the open-source Llama family of AI models, products and Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research projects.
The social media company will invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” into AI compute infrastructure, Zuckerberg said earlier this month.
“The next few years are going to be very exciting!” Zuckerberg wrote Friday.
WATCH: Meta announces massive ‘Prometheus’ & ‘Hyperion’ data center plans
Technology
Palantir joins list of 20 most valuable U.S. companies, with stock more than doubling in 2025
Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, speaks on a panel titled Power, Purpose, and the New American Century at the Hill and Valley Forum at the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Palantir has hit another major milestone in its meteoric stock rise. It’s now one of the 20 most valuable U.S. companies.
The provider of software and data analytics technology to defense agencies saw its stock rise more than 2% on Friday to another record, lifting the company’s market cap to $375 billion, which puts it ahead of Home Depot and Procter & Gamble. The company’s market value was already higher than Bank of America and Coca-Cola.
Palantir has more than doubled in value this year as investors ramp up bets on the company’s artificial intelligence business and closer ties to the U.S. government. Since its founding in 2003 by Peter Thiel, CEO Alex Karp and others, the company has steadily accrued a growing list of customers.
Revenue in Palantir’s U.S. government business increased 45% to $373 million in its most recent quarter, while total sales rose 39% to $884 million. The company next reports results on Aug. 4.
Earlier this year, Palantir soared ahead of Salesforce, IBM and Cisco into the top 10 U.S. tech companies by market cap.
Buying the stock at these levels requires investors to pay hefty multiples. Palantir currently trades for 273 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. The only other company in the top 20 with a triple-digit ratio is Tesla at 175.
With $3.1 billion in total revenue over the past year, Palantir is a fraction the size of the next smallest company by sales among the top 20 by market cap. Mastercard, which is valued at $518 billion, is closest with sales over the past four quarters of roughly $29 billion.
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