Google CEO Sundar Pichai says more job cuts are needed this year to meet “ambitious goals”, a day after the search giant cut “hundreds” of jobs from its ad sales team. I warned my employees that it was necessary.
“We have ambitious goals and will invest in big priorities this year,” Pichai told Google staff in a memo Wednesday evening titled “2024 Priorities and the Year Ahead.” “I intend to do so,” he said, possibly referring to the artificial intelligence race. CNBC.
Last month, Google introduced Gemini, its most advanced AI model, which is said to be “capable of more specific inferences.”
“The reality is that we will have to make tough choices to create the capacity for this investment,” Pichai wrote, adding that this means some teams are “simplifying execution,” according to the memo. , which means “remove layers to increase speed.”
Pichai said the impending “role reductions will not be on the scale of last year's reductions and will not affect all teams.” However, he added, “Frankly, some teams will continue to make resource allocation decisions,” he added, according to CNBC.
“I know it's very difficult to see your colleagues and teams affected,” Pichai added.
Mr. Pichai's memo came a day after Google announced plans to cut hundreds of jobs — part of a major restructuring effort affecting the division that sells ads to large companies, the company's top officials said. business director Philipp Schindler said in a memo shared on Tuesday.
And last week, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company laid off 1,000 more staff across its Pixel, Fitbit, and Nest divisions.
The layoffs are a tough start to the year for Google, which has cut more than 12,000 employees through 2023.
Gemini is a direct competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT. ChatGPT has a multi-year, multi-billion dollar partnership with rival Microsoft.
As part of its efforts to gain an edge in the AI race, Google is making Gemini's highly nuanced technology available through its AI assistant Bard at launch on December 6th.
Google's parent company Alphabet said it is developing three versions of Gemini, developed by its DeepMind AI division, each designed to use different amounts of processing power.
The excitement surrounding AI can be attributed to Alphabet's stock rallying an impressive 59% in 2023, reversing a 39% decline in 2022.
Representatives for Google did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
