Sundar Pichai warns Google staff more layoffs are coming | TechCrunch
Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed recent layoffs in a memo, acknowledging the staff reductions and hinting at more to come. The memo clarified that the current layoffs won’t match the scale of the previous year’s 12,000-person cut, emphasizing the need to allocate funds for artificial intelligence research and enhance team efficiency. In January alone, Google announced plans to cut over 1,000 positions across various departments, including advertising sales, YouTube, design, and engineering.
While Pichai did not explicitly outline the company’s “big priorities,” speculation points to a focus on artificial intelligence, given Google’s recent release of the Gemini model. The tech giant, having expanded its workforce during the pandemic, now faces the challenge of streamlining operations, as indicated in Pichai’s memo. The Alphabet Workers Union expressed concern, labeling the layoffs as disruptive and highlighting a sense of uncertainty among employees. According to the union, these layoffs mark a departure from Google’s historical practices, transforming staff reductions into a routine occurrence.
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