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New Delhi: These days a new controversy has emerged within Google, where differences of opinion seem to be increasing among engineers regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. While on one hand the company is encouraging its employees to adopt AI, on the other hand the disparity in availability of tools has given rise to internal tension.

According to reports, some Google teams—notably the DeepMind unit—have been allowed to use external AI tools, while most engineers have been restricted to only the company’s internal systems. This difference has raised questions about performance and fairness among employees.

Differences in tools between DeepMind vs other teams

According to the report, some Google DeepMind engineers have been allowed to use external AI tools like cloud for coding. At the same time, most of Google’s engineers are required to use the company’s own AI tools—including Gemini.

This disparity is causing dissatisfaction among many engineers, as they believe that external tools are more effective than internal systems.

Use of AI to performance

This controversy has come to light at a time when Google is increasing expectations from its employees regarding the use of AI. According to the report, some engineers have been given special goals to AI, which may affect their performance evaluation.

Employees are not only expected to code using AI, but they are also expected to develop tools that can make their work more efficient.

Reason for ban on external tools

The report states that Google generally limits the use of external AI tools. The company relies more on its internal systems and adopts a “dogfooding” strategy, under which employees themselves improve the company’s products by using them.

Different stance of other companies

While Google is being strict about external tools, other tech companies are showing more flexibility. For example, Meta allows its employees to use external AI tools like the cloud for internal tasks.

Debate broke out regarding adoption of AI

This matter came into discussion when software engineer Steve Yege in a post raised questions on the speed of Google’s AI adoption. they wrote,"In short, the level of AI adoption in Google’s engineering department appears to be similar to that of tractor company John Deere."

DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis reacted sharply and said, "Maybe tell your friend to do some real work and stop spreading sheer nonsense. This post is completely false and just clickbait."