AI is taking human jobs at Google, may layoff 30,000 employees

Google may potentially layoff 30,000 employees soon across its ad sales division

Google has been focusing a lot on AI advancements with announcements like Gemini and Google Bard. However, it looks like the company is also planning to implement it internally that might actually lead to what people feared the most: AI taking away human jobs. Google may potentially layoff 30,000 employees soon across its ad sales division, reported The Information.

Sean Downey, head of ad sales for major accounts in the US reportedly revealed in a meeting that Google is planning to re-organise its ad sales team but did not mention any layoffs. The report indicated that AI is also set to make a significant shift on the operational front that might lead to job cuts. The restructuring is primarily going to impact the ad sales team because Google has been exploring the benefits of leveraging AI for operational efficiency.

Notably, back in May this year, Google had announced new AI-powered ads that feature “natural-language conversational experience within Google Ads, designed to jump-start campaign creation and simplify Search ads.” Google said its new AI could scan your website and “generate relevant and effective keywords, headlines, descriptions, images, and other assets,” making the Google Ads chatbot one part designer and one part sales expert.

The inclusion of AI in the customer care service of Google is directly going to affect the human-centric jobs. The report also revealed that Google is planning to “streamline its workforce, including through potential layoffs to reassign employees in its large-account sales division who oversee partnerships with major advertisers.” It is revealed that the openings are being replaced under the impact of automated productivity of Google’s new AI tools.

Google had fired 12,000 employees at the start of the year 2023. Talking about these layoffs, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated, “This has been a challenging time for any organisation. At Google, we have not faced a comparable juncture in 25 years. We recognised that if we had not taken action, it would have led to more adverse outcomes down the line. It would have lingered as a significant burden on the company, particularly amidst the global shifts we’ve witnessed this year.”