Google is attempting to reduce costs in order to increase its investment in artificial intelligence. After laying off 12,000 people in January of this year, it has now let go of hundreds of recruiters. This is due to a decrease in the number of requests for the recruiting team.
Google used to have a hiring team of 3,000 people. Part of this team was affected by the January round of layoffs, which affected about 3% of the workforce. This latest round will now affect even more people.
In an emergency meeting, members of the recruiting team were informed of job cuts. According to media reports, Brian Ong, vice president of recruiting, personally informed employees of the layoffs because he did not want them to hear the news from any other source.
For the time being, it appears that only the recruiting division has been impacted, but layoffs in other teams cannot be ruled out in the future.
Google Assistant, the virtual assistant software application available primarily on mobile and home automation devices, was rumoured to be getting a makeover last month. According to reports, the app will be infused with generative artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its features. That means Assistant will be able to provide more intelligent and meaningful responses to even the most complex questions. At the time, it was stated that, while this is great news for app users, those who have been working on the app for a long time may lose their jobs.
