Some Coinbase employees recently learned the hard way that their CEO wasn’t playing around when it came to using AI at work.<\/p>\n
CEO Brian Armstrong<\/a> appeared in a Wednesday episode of the “Cheeky Pint” podcast,<\/a> where he spoke about his AI mandate for engineers at his crypto exchange. He made it clear that he’s serious about employees using AI to code \u2014 with real consequences for any resistors.<\/p>\n The Coinbase CEO said that he was initially told that it would take a quarter or two to reach 50% of adoption of AI tools.<\/p>\n “Why can’t every engineer just onboard by the end of the week?” he said.<\/p>\n “I went rogue,” Armstrong said. He said he posted in the company’s Slack channel (“just a light dusting of founder mode<\/a>,” remarked podcast host and Stripe cofounder John Collison), emphasizing the importance of AI<\/a> and telling engineers that they didn’t have to use the tools on a daily basis yet but “at least onboard by the end of the week.”<\/p>\n “If not, I’m hosting a meeting on Saturday with everyone who hasn’t done it and I’d like to meet with you to understand why,” the Coinbase CEO said.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Armstrong said he logged into the meeting and a small number of employees were on the call.<\/p>\n “Some of them had a good reason because they were just getting back from a trip or something,” Armstrong said. “Some of them didn’t, and they got fired.”<\/p>\n \u2022 For Googlers, the pressure is on to use AI for everything \u2014 or get left behind<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Not on board with AI? Pretend. Your boss is watching.<\/a><\/p>\n Armstrong said his “heavy-handed” approach sent a message to employees that AI is something to lean into and learn about. Coinbase has begun hosting a monthly “AI speed run” training hosted by someone using AI at the company. He said the goal is to get to 50% of code written by AI by the end of the quarter.<\/p>\n Armstrong’s confrontation of AI stragglers at the company highlights the increasing pressure at many companies for employees to adopt AI in their work. Google leaders<\/a> have told staffers to use more AI tools in their day-to-day work, and engineers are expected to use AI for coding. Employees previously told Business Insider that CEO Sundar Pichai said in an all-hands meeting that they need to use AI for Google to get ahead in the AI arms race.<\/p>\n Please help BI improve our Business, Tech, and Innovation coverage by sharing a bit about your role \u2014 it will help us tailor content that matters most to people like you.<\/p>\n What is your job title?<\/p>\n (1 of 2)<\/p>\n What products or services can you approve for purchase in your role?<\/p>\n (2 of 2)<\/p>\n Continue<\/p>\n By providing this information, you agree that Business Insider may use \n Thanks for sharing insights about your role.\n <\/p>\n
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