Google to layoff 30000 staff? AI just cost these employees their jobs, says report

As many as 30000 employees can lose their jobs due to a massive Google layoff soon, a report suggested. The trimming down is expected to be fueled by AI innovation, which can render these jobs useless.

Just ahead of Christmas, the festival of giving, Google might play the role of the Grinch and steal its employees' happiness. According to a report, as many as 30000 employees may face layoffs soon in Google and the reason behind it might shock you. It is said that the AI innovation by the company has led to those positions being surplus, so the company is planning to trim its workforce accordingly. The ad sales department of the company will be restructured during the reported layoffs.

According to a report by Live Mint, which quoted The Information, many job roles in Google's ad sales department are becoming redundant after Google introduced new AI tools. These AI tools can give suggestions as well as create ads for its clients that have the capability of performing well. These ads require next to zero human intervention and can operate entirely autonomously.

Google to layoff 30000 employees

This AI ads tool, called Performance Max was unveiled by the company at the Google I/O 2023. As per the report, an increasing number of advertisers are now leaning towards Performance Max, which lets them have more control over the output of the ad generated. Since the tool can work without needing a human to assist in the task, Google is finding the need for human employees specializing in selling ads for its services such as YouTube, Search, Maps, etc., redundant.

Google's president of the Americas and Global Partners, Sean Downey, internally disclosed the restructuring of the ad sales unit during a meeting last week. The Information reported that Downey did not specify whether this reorganization would result in additional layoffs.

Describing Performance Max, Google said at I/O, “Performance Max is a new goal-based campaign type that allows performance advertisers to access all of their Google Ads inventory from a single campaign”. 

Performance Max helps customers drive performance based on their specified conversion goals. The company claims it can deliver more conversions and value by optimizing performance in real-time and across channels using Smart Bidding. Performance Max uses Google AI across bidding, budget optimization, audiences, creatives, attribution, and more.

Source