Google's Ex-CEO Just Called this New Way Engineers Work 'Mind Boggling'

Eric Schmidt spoke at a tech conference about the dramatic transformation in how engineers work, describing a new workflow where engineers write specifications and evaluation functions, then let AI agents work through the night while they sleep. He believes this will create a bifurcated market with very large companies and very small ones, as the middle ground requiring many average engineers compresses. Real-world examples include Notion's co-founder not writing code for 9 months and Intercom reporting 90% AI-authored pull requests. Companies are productizing this trend, with Perplexity launching 'Computer' - a dedicated Mac Mini that works 24/7 as a digital proxy. However, Harvard Business Review research warns of 'AI brain fry' - cognitive fatigue from managing too many AI tools, with productivity gains plateauing after using three tools. In the competitive landscape, Claude, Replit, and Google are battling for workplace AI supremacy with new integrations and features. Consumer AI data shows ChatGPT maintaining dominance with 900 million weekly users, while Claude and Gemini are seeing rapid paid subscriber growth, suggesting a mobile OS-style duopoly rather than search engine monopolization.