Google has laid off hundreds of staff across the company as it tries to cut costs and focus on artificial intelligence.
The tech titan confirmed the new wave of mass firings on Wednesday night, which employees claimed was more than 1,000 people.
Jobs were cut across its hardware, voice assistance, and engineering divisions as it makes room to spend more resources on AI.
‘Throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities. Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes,’ Google said.
‘We’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead.’
Google confirmed the new wave of mass firings on Wednesday night, which employees claimed was more than 1,000 people
The hardware cuts included staff working on Google’s Pixel phones, Fitbit, and Nest thermostat, but most were in its augmented reality teams.
Other cuts affected the Waze navigation app, Google News, and recruitment.
Hundreds of employees suddenly lost access to corporate systems on Wednesday night and were told their jobs were eliminated.
‘We’ve had to make some difficult decisions about ongoing employment of some Google employees and we regret to inform you that your position is being eliminated,’ a text some were sent read.
Google employees claimed the layoffs included well over a thousand staff and were more widespread than the company admitted.
‘They’ve fragmented the layoffs on purpose to make them seem more localized, but it’s affecting the whole company,’ one wrote online.
Google a year ago laid off 12,000 staff, about six per cent of its workforce, in the biggest mass firings of the company’s history.
‘Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally,’ it said.
The Alphabet Workers Union, which represents staff across Google’s parent company, expressed outrage at the job cuts.
‘Tonight, Google began another round of needless layoffs,’ it said.
‘Our members and teammates work hard every day to build great products for our users, and the company cannot continue to fire our coworkers while making billions every quarter. We won’t stop fighting until our jobs are safe!’