Google To Lay Off Another 30,000 Employees Soon Due To AI Innovation? Check What The Report Says

Tech giant Google is considering restructuring a large chunk of its 30,000-strong ad sales unit in view of the company's recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), said a report by The Information. The news has raised the risk of another layoff by the tech major after it laid off around 12,000 employees earlier this year, the biggest job cut in the company's history so far.

As per the report, several jobs in the ad sales unit are being made redundant as Google has introduced new AI-based tools that can automatically suggest and create new ads that perform well for customers and need little attention from employees.

Notably, Google launched its AI-powered campaign planner, Performance Max, in 2021, but the company decided to add generative AI-based capabilities to the ad tool at the Google I/O event earlier this year, making it easier to "create custom assets and scale them in a few clicks".

The Information's report stated that a growing number of advertisers have now adopted Performance Max, which has eliminated the need for employees who hold expertise in selling ads for a particular Google service, like YouTube, Search, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

Last week, in a meeting Google's president of the Americas and Global Partners, Sean Downey announced the news of the restructuring of the ad sales unit, internally. However, the executive did not mention if the reorganization would lead to another round of layoffs, The Information reported.

In January this year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the decision to reduce the company's workforce by approximately 12,000 roles, he said, "As an almost 25-year-old company, we're bound to go through difficult economic cycles. These are important moments to sharpen our focus, re-engineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities."

The Alphabet CEO once opened up on firing 12,000 people and termed it as one of the "most difficult decisions for the company".

Google parent Alphabet saw 11% revenue growth in the third quarter. The double-digit rise in revenue came after the company witnessed four quarters of single-digit expansion. Economic softening last year and increased competition from TikTok also impacted Google's core advertising business.

The company's net income grew to $19.7 billion, compared to $13.9 billion in the prior period.

For the third quarter, the company reported advertising revenue stood at $59.65 billion, up from $54.48 billion a year ago. After the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT last year, Google has been adding generative AI technology to more products.