Google has initiated significant layoffs across its various teams, including its voice assistant, hardware, engineering and ad sales teams, signaling a continuation of the tech industry’s trend toward reducing workforce costs. The layoffs affect hundreds of employees within the voice assistant unit. hardware teams responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit products; And a substantial part of the Augmented Reality (AR) team. The move is part of Google’s broader efforts to streamline operations and align resources with its core product priorities.
According to The Verge, the total number is in the thousands. It comes as Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., reported record profits in late January. The company reported $20.4 billion in net income in Q4.
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The ad sales team has seen declines, particularly targeting the large customer sales (LCS) unit, which is responsible for selling advertising to large businesses. The restructuring is intended to focus more on the Google Customer Solutions (GCS) team, which works with small business clients, marking a strategic shift in Google’s approach to selling advertising.
The layoffs have sparked widespread concern among Google employees, not only about job security but also about the ethical implications of their work, especially as the company invests heavily in advancing AI technology. has been Fears are growing that the push toward automation and AI could ultimately lead to more job changes, adding to existing anxiety over layoffs.
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According to a recently leaked memo, AI is the No. 1 focus for Google going into 2024. Notably, Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s full list of goals for 2024 includes:
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Provide the world’s most advanced, secure and responsible Al.
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Improve knowledge, learning, creativity and productivity
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Create the most helpful personal computing platforms and devices.
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Enable organizations and developers to innovate on Google Cloud
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Provide the world’s most trusted products and platforms.
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Build a Google that’s exceptional for Googlers and the world.
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Improve company speed, efficiency and productivity and deliver sustainable cost savings.
This situation has significantly affected employee morale, with many pessimistic about their future at the company. They are being replaced by the technologies they are helping to create.
Late last year, there were already concerns within the company that AI was going to start replacing employees at Alphabet. Futurism reported late last year that the technology giant had already begun the process of replacing some jobs with internally developed AI tools. But that’s different from what Google senior vice president Philip Schindler said on a recent earnings call about recent restructuring and job cuts.
“I want to be clear, when we restructure, there is always an opportunity to be more efficient and smarter in how we serve and grow our customers,” Schindler said. He continued, “We’re not restructuring because AI is taking away important roles here. But we see huge opportunities here with our AI-powered solutions to really deliver incredible ROI at scale, and That’s why we’re making some of those adjustments.”
Google’s restructuring and layoffs reflect broader challenges facing the tech industry, where companies are grappling with financial pressures and the ethical concerns of AI and automation. The impact on employee morale and the potential for future job losses highlight the delicate balance between the human cost of innovation and technological progress.
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This article Google lays off 12,000 jobs, a year after record profits despite record profits as workers worry AI is slowly replacing them was originally published on Benzinga.com
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