A detailed view of a Netflix Christmas Game Day sign during the regular season NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on December 25, 2024 in Pittsburgh, PA.
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
Christmas came on time Netflixas the streamer has set records for the most streamed NFL games of all time in the US, according to Nielsen.
Almost 65 million people in the USA watched the two NFL games on Christmas Day, which Netflix had exclusive rights to broadcast. The Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million viewers, while the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Pittsburgh Steelers averaged 24.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
The U.S. audience for the Ravens-Texans game peaked during Beyoncé’s halftime show, with more than 27 million viewers tuning in to watch the star-studded performance.
“Giving our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best holiday gift we could have given,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a press release. “We are grateful for our partnership with the NFL, for all of our wonderful on-air talent, and please don’t forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey.”
Wednesday’s games were the first under a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix to broadcast Christmas games exclusively on the streaming giant.
The NFL wasn’t the only sports league feeling the holiday spirit. According to Nielsen, the NBA – which typically dominates Christmas sports programming – set a record for the most-watched Christmas Day in five years, averaging 5.25 million viewers per game across five games a day in the US.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Golden State Warriors was the most-watched NBA regular season and Christmas game in five years, averaging 7.76 million viewers and peaking at 8.32 million viewers. The first game of the day, the New York Knicks’ win over the San Antonio Spurs, averaged 4.91 million viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas Day opening game in 13 years.
Overall, viewership for the five games increased by 84% compared to Christmas in 2023. The games were broadcast on Disney’s Cable and streaming platforms ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+.
The high ratings were a welcome sign for the NBA, which has struggled with lower viewership this year.
Steven Seagal’s days of portraying the “damn good” action hero may be long behind him, but the man who brought us Under Siege, On deadly groundAnd Hard to kill deserves credit for actually taking on roles that fall into morally gray territory. Direct-to-video from 2013 Executive power is such a film in the sense that Seagal plays not a decorated right-wing war hero with an ax to grind, but a cold and calculating crime boss named John Alexander who does dirty business behind closed doors with the end goal of leaving his life of crime behind him allow.
While the usual Steven Seagal trappings can be found executive power, Like his unbreakable moral code (albeit an evil one), the film ultimately fails because his ethics are caught up in his ruthlessness, even though he so clearly wants to be the good guy.
Violence of poor execution
Executive power introduces us to Roman Hurst (Bren Foster), a freelance mercenary who carries a gun for protection, although we are led to believe that his hands are deadly weapons in their own right. After a botched prison assassination attempt in which Roman takes out the wrong target under the leadership of an imprisoned gang leader named Ice Man (Ving Rhames), John Alexander (Steven Seagal) is left with no choice but to force Roman into early retirement with his hands broken . In John’s eyes, Roman has been a loyal employee for 15 years, but is still paying the price for his serious misjudgment that damaged the reputation of everyone involved.
When Ice Man is released from prison, he immediately clashes with John, and a gang war for control of Albuquerque, New Mexico’s crime underground, kicks into high gear. John makes Roman a peace offering in the form of enough money to disappear and start a new life, while also subtly hinting that he could use his help in easing the developing and ongoing tension between him and Ice Man. Roman finds himself conflicted because he wants to work with John again, but his hands are damaged beyond repair.
Danny Trejo elevates the premise
Roman has a few brief encounters with a deli owner named Oso, played by Danny Trejo, and one wonders how many minutes of gameplay will pass Executive power before Danny Trejo does what he does best: die on screen. I’ll spare you any spoilers, but Oso has a very quotable scene where he attacks Roman with poisonous scorpions and a hammer in a misguided attempt to repair his hands.
No clear good guy or bad guy
Despite Steven Seagal’s best efforts to portray some kind of villain Executive powerhe still can’t help himself, delivering his signature monologues about pride, his super-secret past that vaguely explains how he accumulated his skills and fortune, and his personal code of ethics to justify his actions, no matter how reckless and morally dubious may be be her.
Stream Force Of Execution
This direct-to-video action film is a far cry from Steven Seagal’s blockbuster ’90s heyday, but it’s not without its charms. At least it’s refreshing to see Executive power Because at this late point in his career, Seagal is trying to break away from the role by taking on a character that isn’t the main action hero with a heart of gold that we all know. Executive power is a seedy affair at best, but it effectively captures Seagal’s willingness to try new things, even as he unconsciously tries to relive his glory days in every single scene.
From mind-bending puzzles to sports, Europe’s Fortune 500 C-suite executives have many interests. The common thread? It makes them better leaders, they say. Read More
OpenAI said Friday that as it transitions to a new for-profit structure in 2025, the company will create a nonprofit corporation to oversee commercial operations, lifting some of its nonprofit restrictions and allowing it to operate more like a high-growth startup .
“The hundreds of billions of dollars that major companies are now investing in AI development demonstrate what is truly needed for OpenAI to continue pursuing this mission,” OpenAI’s board wrote in the post. “We once again have to raise more capital than we imagined. Investors want to support us, but with this size of capital they need conventional equity and less structural standards.”
The pressure on OpenAI is tied to its $157 billion valuation, which the company has reached in the two years since the launch of its viral chatbot ChatGPT and the start of the generative artificial intelligence boom. OpenAI closed its latest $6.6 billion round in October and was preparing to compete aggressively with Elon Musk’s xAI MicrosoftGoogle, Amazon and Anthropic in a market expected to reach over $1 trillion in sales within a decade.
Developing the large language models that lie at the heart of ChatGPT and other generative AI products requires continued investment in powerful processors, most of which are provided by Nvidiaand cloud infrastructure, which OpenAI receives largely from top backer Microsoft.
OpenAI expects losses of about $5 billion this year on revenue of $3.7 billion, CNBC confirmed in September. These numbers are increasing rapidly.
By converting to a Delaware PBC “with common stock,” OpenAI says it will be able to pursue commercial operations while hiring staff for its nonprofit arm and allowing that wing to undertake nonprofit activities in health care, education and science.
The nonprofit will have a “significant interest” in the PBC “at a fair valuation determined by independent financial advisors,” OpenAI wrote.
OpenAI’s complicated structure as it exists today is the result of its founding as a non-profit organization in 2015. It was founded by CEO Sam Altman, Musk and others as a research laboratory focused on artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is a completely futuristic The concept was time.
In 2019, OpenAI wanted to move beyond its role as a pure research laboratory and hoped to function more like a startup. So it developed a so-called capped profit model, in which the nonprofit organization continues to control the entire company.
“Our current structure does not allow the board to directly consider the interests of those who would fund the mission and does not allow the nonprofit to easily do more than control the for-profit organization,” OpenAI wrote in the post Friday.
OpenAI added that the change would “allow us to raise the necessary capital on traditional terms like our competitors.”
Musk’s opposition
OpenAI’s restructuring efforts face some major hurdles. The most significant is Musk, who is in the middle of a heated legal battle with Altman that could have significant implications for the company’s future.
In recent months, Musk has sued OpenAI, asking a court to block the company’s conversion from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity. In posts on , which should function as the company’s planned new structure.
In addition to the duel with Musk, OpenAI has faced a drain of senior talent, in part due to concerns that the company has focused on bringing commercial products to market at the expense of security.
At the end of September, Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, announced that she would be leaving the company after 6½ years. On the same day, research chief Bob McGrew and Barret Zoph, a research vice president, also announced their resignations. A month earlier, co-founder John Schulman said he was moving to rival startup Anthropic.
Altman said during a September interview at Italian Tech Week that the recent executive departures had nothing to do with the company’s potential restructuring: “We have been thinking about it – our board – independently for almost a year as we think about it, “What it takes to get to our next stage,” he said.
These weren’t the first departures of big names. In May, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and former head of security Jan Leike announced their departures, with Leike also joining Anthropic.
Leike wrote in a social media post at the time that disagreements with leadership over the company’s priorities were the trigger for his decision.
“In recent years, safety culture and processes have taken a back seat to shiny products,” he wrote.
An employee who worked under Leike resigned shortly after him, writing on promises to do the right thing later.”
Each month, we feature a success story to inspire and motivate you as you navigate your health journey.
Meet Patrick, a young man from Ireland whose life took a dramatic turn when he was just 16 years old. At his peak weight of 146.7 kg (323 pounds), Patrick’s doctor gave him a stern warning: his health was in immediate danger. That moment served as the catalyst for Patrick to take control of his life, one calorie at a time.
Through the simplicity and structure of the Calories in, calories out (CICO) method, Patrick transformed not only his body, but also the way he thought about food and fitness.
Here’s Patrick’s story, in his own words, about how consistency, meal preparation, and mindful eating helped him lose over 60 kg (132 pounds).
What inspired you to start your weight loss journey? Was there a specific turning point?
Before I turned 20, my doctor told me I was days away from a medical emergency because of my weight and blood pressure. I was terrified. That fear turned into determination, and I knew it was time to make a change.
How did you set your calorie goals, and what role did the CICO approach play in your journey?
I started with an online calorie calculator to figure out a 300 to 400 calorie deficit for gradual weight loss. I tracked everything I ate and focused on creating a sustainable deficit that wouldn’t leave me feeling depleted.
You might also like: Why choosing the right calorie goal is important for weight loss >
How were the first weeks?
It felt good to see the numbers on the scale start to move, but there was no challenge. I had to say goodbye to some of my favorite foods, like butter rolls and fried snacks. I replaced those with protein and low calorie meals it kept me full and energized.
Did you have an “aha” moment when things started to click?
Yes, about a year. By then, I was dealing with some regressions and progressions. That’s when I started experimenting with volume-based eating: filling my plate with foods that are low in calories but high in nutrients and satiety. By then, I had also adjusted my calorie deficit to 800, which accelerated my progress. Those trial and error moments in the first year helped me understand how the CICO method works for me.
How long did it take you to see the results?
It was a gradual process. Around 16-18 months, I started hearing comments from others about my transformation. The first year was about learning and making adjustments, but in the second year, the changes were more noticeable.
What setbacks have you faced along the way, and how did you overcome them?
Injuries, eating, and moments of self-control were some of the biggest obstacles I faced. I learned that consistency was key, especially with exercise. Once I started making macro-friendly meals to satisfy my cravings, it became easier to stick to my plan.
For example, I used to eat frozen pizza with fries. When I learned how easy it is to chop a potato and air fry it with seasoning and make a low-calorie pizza using egg whites, vegetables, and low-fat cheese, I saved almost 1,000 calories every time I made that meal.
What were the biggest lessons you learned about CICO, food and nutrition?
Cooking the meal was a complete change. Planning and preparing my meals each week helped me stay within my calorie goals and avoid impulsive eating. I devoured two or three bags of chips a day. When I started logging my food, I found out that I was adding 600 calories to my day. Cutting out highly processed junk food made a big difference.
What was the most rewarding moment of your trip?
There were so many, but two stand out: fitting into a size medium after years of wearing a 3XL and wearing a suit for the first time. I was going to a family wedding. I got a lot of compliments that night. I felt strong; people were noticing how I had transformed my health. Those moments felt surreal and reminded me of how far I had come.
How has your weight loss changed your daily life?
Now I am 58.5 kg less, and I feel like a completely different person. Running and lifting weights have become a part of my routine, and I’ve also completed challenges like 75 Hard, which made me drop an extra 10kg. Beyond the physical changes, I feel stronger, healthier and more confident than ever.
How do you view food and fitness now compared to when you started?
My way of thinking has completely changed. I am mindful of what I put in my body, and 99% of my meals are based on nutritional goals. I will never let myself fall into bad habits again.
Patrick’s story highlights the power of a simple concept: calories in, calories out. With consistency, planning and self-discipline, he proved that small, deliberate changes can lead to extraordinary results.
How MyFitnessPal Can Help
When you create your profile, we ask you for your age, height, weight, gender, and normal daily activity level. We use these factors to determine the calories needed to meet your goal, whether it’s to maintain your current weight, lose weight, or gain weight.
Your answers and goals determine your daily calorie and nutrient goals.
As you log your meals, the app displays how many calories you’ve consumed. This information will help you make adjustments that support your weight loss goals.
Throughout 2024, CNBC’s Jim Cramer discussed the seemingly limitless rise of artificial intelligence with dozens of CEOs from around the tech world. Here’s how five top business leaders characterized the meteoric rise of AI this year.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the “AI computing ramp” is just beginning and will take years.
Huang painted a picture of the AI landscape in March, saying investments in the new technology were still in their early stages. He predicted years of growth and suggested that AI can drive innovation in a variety of areas, including science and healthcare.
Nvidia is a titan of the AI revolution as it develops and sells advanced technology essential to the technology. The company is the leading provider of GPUs used to develop and implement new AI software such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Big Tech, by and large, demands Nvidia’s products, including customers Meta, Tesla, Microsoft And Amazon Spend billions. Nvidia stock is currently up more than 176% year-to-date and has even outperformed at times this year Apple to become the most valuable company on the market.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said cybercriminals are on the rise: “It will be the battle of AI in the future.”
Kurtz described in February how his cybersecurity company is fighting cybercrime “more actively than ever” as the number of hackers grows and becomes more advanced with new AI technology in their arsenals. He said generative AI “democratizes very esoteric techniques and attacks” so that less experienced cybercriminals can still carry out advanced attacks.
“What we talked about in the earnings call is the ability to create more opponents with lower skill levels but much higher skill levels through the use of generative AI,” Kurtz said. “Of course we use generative AI on the security side. AI is intended to help protect our customers, so it will be the battle of AI in the future.”
Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy said generative AI will “keep him busy for many years to come.”
Ramaswamy took over as head of Snowflake in February and described how the data analytics software maker plans to use new AI technology.
“We have great ambitions to do more, whether through applications running on Snowflake or, of course, leveraging the power of generative AI, which I have been focusing on over the last year, to democratize access to enterprise data.” “To give even more people the opportunity to quickly access and benefit from the data,” said Ramaswamy. “That’s why I think there’s a big opportunity in the world of data applications and AI that will keep me busy for many years to come.”
Snowflake has been working with Nvidia and in May Ramaswamy announced a new project with the AI darling. According to him, Snowflake’s product pipeline, “especially in the AI space, is in full swing.”
AMD CEO Lisa Su described the competition with Nvidia: “There is no one-size-fits-all solution in computing.”
Although Nvidia is a leader in the red-hot semiconductor design industry, the competition is fierce, with companies like AMD and Intel compete for customers willing to pay the highest price. But when Su was asked about competition with Nvidia in September, he suggested there was room for more than one big player in the sector. In her opinion, the “technology ecosystem” works well when there is competition and partnership and customers want the opportunity to choose between several solid options.
“If you think about it, there is no one-size-fits-all solution in computer science,” Su said. “There is not just one architecture. In fact, you need the right computing power for each application.”
Su said she believes that “AI will impact everyone’s lives” and that the world is just beginning to understand what the new technology can do. She also said that people shouldn’t be impatient with the impact of AI because “technology trends are meant to unfold over years, not months.”
Generic CEO Aaron Jagdfeld said pressure on the grid is “only getting worse” from weather and technology.
Jagdgeld warned that pressure on the power grid will only increase as demand for data centers and other artificial intelligence-related technologies continues to grow. He said 40% of the generator company’s business comes from commercial and industrial products, such as backup power for manufacturing plants, distribution centers, hospitals and data centers.
“This has become an extremely critical point of discussion,” Jagdfeld said. “This is only going to get worse.”
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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust holds shares of Nvidia, AMD and CrowdStrike.
The Orville It may have originally been marketed as a Star Trek parody by the mastermind behind it Family manSeth MacFarlane, but by the time the third season finally aired in 2022, it had long since become one of the best science fiction shows of the decade. “Twice in a Lifetime,” the sixth episode of season three, proved that a series whose pilot features a discussion about urinating aliens is capable of emotional heights that most series never reach. To this day, fans debate the episode’s ending and whether our heroes actually made the right decision.
Twice in life
The Orville “Twice in a lifetime
“Twice in a Lifetime” is an episode that revolves around Gordon (Scott Grimes) and serves as a sequel The Orville Standout Season 2: “Lasting Impressions.” At that time, Gordon created a holographic program based on information from a phone placed in a time capsule in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 2015. The woman, Laura Huggins (Leighton Meester), becomes the woman of Gordon’s dreams, and he falls in love with her digital pastime, but ultimately lets her go.
The second time, Gordon doesn’t fall in love with the digital version of Laura, but is transported back in time thanks to the Aronov device, which messes up the time stream again. Abandoned in 2015, Gordon sets out to find the real Laura Huggins, meets her, falls in love again, has children with her and is able to live his perfect life. The Orville, on a mission to rescue Gordon before he destroys the timeline, lands in 2025, where Ed (Seth MacFarlane) and Kelly (Adrianne Palicki) confront their navigator.
An act of betrayal
Scott Grimes is here The Orville
The Orville Things only really took off when the stories started to focus on the characters and less on playing around with sci-fi tropes, but here under the watchful eye of producer Brannon Braga, the man responsible for some of them Star Trek: The Next Generation best episodes, it’s the perfect mix of both. There is no true villain in Twice in a Lifetime, and the climax is an intense debate between Gordon, who argues for that perfect life, and Ed and Kelly, who insist that the timeline must be preserved.
Given how the Season 2 finale plays out, it’s ironic that Ed and Kelly take the stance they do, especially since Gordon explains he spent three years alone in the wilderness, avoiding all contact with humans to keep the timeline intact. In another series, Ed and Kelly could have finally won Gordon over with a superior, logical argument about the needs of the many. But The Orville is structured differently and the true resolution is a shocking, heartbreaking act of betrayal.
The Orville is refueled and ready to jump through time again. He goes back to 2015, before Gordon met Laura, and picks him up from the wilderness after just four months away. This version of Gordon is happy to be back. 2025 Gordon went back to his family, hugged them, told them he loved them, and enjoyed a few moments before they were all erased from the timeline when 2015 Gordon was brought back to the year 2422. There, Ed and Kelly explain the year 2015 to Gordon, what really happened, how he found Laura and how he lived his dream life in the past.
Nobody is right and nobody is wrong
The Orville
There are a significant number of The Orville Fans who think Ed and Kelly are villains for robbing Gordon of his perfect life and then telling him about it so he can feel the loss all over again for the first time when they turn back to the real time. Considering her past adventures in the timeline have changed the future twice, it feels hypocritical and cruel to do something like this to Gordon.
Seth MacFarlane has continued to do interviews and appearances because, in his opinion, we never saw the life Laura would have had if Gordon hadn’t appeared in the past. Was her life better or did Gordon’s arrival change her future and take her down a completely different path? The worst thing about MacFarlane’s attitude is also what makes The Orville So good that he’s right, but it feels wrong, and that moral conundrum is what makes the series so fascinating, even years later.
There are more episodes of The Orvilleespecially both parts of “Identity” that someone likes best, but nothing hits as hard as “Twice in a Lifetime.” Gordon, the comical character who masks his insecurities with alcohol, was rarely in the spotlight, and when he was, Scott Grimes made sure he was the best in every single scene, giving us one of science’s greatest highlights. Five time travel episodes ever filmed.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai gestures during a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, January 22, 2020.
Fabrice COFFRINI | AFP | Getty Images
Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees last week that “the stakes are high” for 2025 as the company faces increasing competition and regulatory hurdles and struggles with rapid advances in artificial intelligence.
At a 2025 strategy meeting on Dec. 18, Pichai and other Google executives dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters praised the coming year, particularly in terms of the future of AI, according to audio recordings obtained by CNBC.
“I think 2025 will be crucial,” Pichai said. “I think it’s really important that we internalize the urgency of this moment and need to move faster as companies to solve real user problems.”
Some employees attended the meeting in person at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, while others joined in virtually.
Pichai’s comments come after a year packed with the most pressure Google has seen since its IPO two decades ago. While areas such as search ads and cloud delivered strong revenue growth, competition in Google’s core markets increased and the company faced internal challenges, including culture clashes and concerns about Pichai’s vision for the future.
In addition, regulation is now stricter than ever.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google illegally held a monopoly on the search engine market. The Justice Department in November demanded that Google be forced to divest its Chrome Internet browser unit. In another case, the DOJ accused the company of illegally dominating online advertising technology. That process concluded in September and is awaiting a judge’s decision.
That same month, the UK competition regulator issued a statement of objection to Google’s ad tech practices, which the regulator preliminarily found to harm competition in the UK
“It is not lost on me that we face scrutiny around the world,” Pichai said.“That has to do with our size and our success. It’s part of a broader trend where technology is now having a major impact on society. So, at this moment more than ever, we need to make sure we don’t allow ourselves to be distracted.”
A Google spokesman declined to comment.
Google’s search business still has a dominant market share, but generative AI has opened up all sorts of new ways for people to access online information and brought with it a host of new competitors.
ChatGPT from OpenAI triggered the hype cycle at the end of 2022, including among investors Microsoft have since brought the company to a value of $157 billion. In July, OpenAI announced that it would launch its own search engine. Perplexity also touts its AI-powered search service and recently closed a $500 million funding round at a $9 billion valuation.
Google is investing heavily to stay at the top, especially through its Gemini AI model. The Gemini app gives users access to a range of tools, including Google’s chatbot.
Pichai said “building large, new businesses” was a top priority. This also includes the Gemini app, which Google says will be the next app from Google to reach half a billion users. The company currently has 15 apps that reach this mark.
“There is strong momentum on the Gemini app, especially in the last few months,” Pichai said. “But we still have a lot to do in 2025 to close the gap and build a leadership position there too.”
“Scaling Gemini on the consumer side will be our biggest focus next year,” Pichai later added.
“You don’t always have to be the first”
At the meeting, Pichai showed a diagram of large language models, with Gemini 1.5 leading OpenAI’s GPT and other competitors.
“I expect some back and forth” in 2025, Pichai said. “I think we’ll be up to speed.”
He acknowledged that Google had to catch up.
“You don’t always have to be first in history, but you have to perform well and really be the best in class as a product,” he said. “I think that’s what 2025 is all about.”
Executives answered questions submitted by employees through Google’s internal system. A comment read by Pichai suggested that ChatGPT is “becoming as synonymous with AI as Google searches,” with the questioner asking, “What is our plan to combat this in the coming year?” Or do we not focus so much on the consumer before LLM?”
For the answer, Pichai turned to DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, who said that teams will be “supercharging” the Gemini app and that the company has seen progress in the number of users since the app launched in February. He said: “The products themselves will evolve massively over the next year or two.”
Hassabis described the vision of a universal assistant that can “work seamlessly across any domain, any modality and any device.”
Project Astra, Google’s experimental version of a universal assistant that the company announced in May, will be updated in the first half of the year.
Another employee question asked whether Google will be able to launch AI products without charging $200 a month “like other companies.”
“Right now we have no plans for this type of subscription tier,” Hassabis responded, adding that he thinks the $20 monthly fee for Gemini Advanced is a good value. “I wouldn’t necessarily say never, but there are no plans for it at the moment.”
Towards the end of the meeting, Google welcomed Josh Woodward, head of Google Labs, to the stage. He took the microphone while the Zombie Nation song “Kernkraft 400” played loudly in the background.
“I’m going to try to do six demos in eight minutes,” said Woodward, who is known for his high energy.
Woodward first introduced Jules, a programming assistant who is on the program of a trusted tester. He said, “This is where the future of software development is going.”
Woodward then moved on to AI note-taking product NotebookLM, which included a number of updates in 2024, including a podcasting tool. Woodward demonstrated how the company is trying out a new feature that allows the user to call in to a podcast.
He then moved to Project Mariner, an AI-powered multitasking Chrome extension. Woodward asked to add the top restaurants from Tripadvisor to the map app. After a short break, the demo worked successfully and elicited applause from the employees present.
Throughout the meeting, Pichai repeatedly reminded employees of the need to “remain combative.” Google has undergone an extensive period of cost-cutting, which included cutting about 6% of its workforce in 2023 and a continued focus on efficiency.
At the end of the third quarter, Alphabet had 181,269 employees, down about 5% from the end of 2022.
At one point, Pichai referenced Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who founded the company 26 years ago, long before cloud computing or AI tools existed.
“If you look at how the founders built our data centers in the early Google days, they were really, really argumentative about every decision they made,” Pichai said. “Constraints often lead to creativity. Not all problems are always solved by the number of employees.”
