According to a report by The Information, search giant Google plans to restructure a significant portion of its 30,000-person ad sales business due to its recent advancements in artificial intelligence. Notably, Google made the largest employment loss in company history earlier this year when it let go of almost 12,000 workers.
Due to macroeconomic challenges and widespread layoffs, FAAMNG businesses in India, which are often seen as setting the talent trend for the remainder of the IT cohort in the nation, have almost entirely halted in their hiring.
According to statistics by specialized employment service Xpheno, these companies—Facebook (Meta Platforms), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google (Alphabet)—saw a 90% decrease in active job ads in India in 2023 compared to the previous year.
The cohort is still at its lowest point of activity, with 200 active hires now, less than 98% of what it typically has in India.
This occurs when the global economic recession is plaguing the tech sector, as seen by the uncertainty surrounding pipeline conversion, project ramp-downs, poor revenue growth, and cautious client approach.
In the Report, we can see that it claims that because Google has launched new AI-based technologies that can automatically recommend and produce new advertisements that work well for consumers and require minimal attention from people, many of the jobs in the ad sales section are being made obsolete.
Notably, during the Google I/O event earlier this year, the firm added generative AI-based features to Performance Max, its AI-powered campaign planner, making it easier to “create custom assets and scale them in a few clicks.” Performance Max was first introduced by Google in 2021.
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, discusses terminating 12,000 employees:
As to the research published by The Information, an increasing number of marketers have embraced Performance Max, preventing the need for staff members who specialize in marketing advertisements for specific Google services, such as YouTube, Search, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
During a meeting last week, Sean Downey, the head of Google’s Americas and Global Partners, revealed the news of the ad sales unit’s restructuring internally. The Information notes that the CEO did not specify if the reorganization would result from more job layoffs.
In the Meeting, an employee asked Sundar Pichai, “It has been almost 1 year since we decided to reduce our workforce. How did this decision affect our growth, P&L, and morale?”
In response, the CEO of Google stated that it was one of the “most difficult decisions for the company” and significantly affected staff morale. He said, “At Google, we haven’t had a moment quite like that in 25 years.”
“It would have been a major overhang on the company. I think it would have made it very difficult in a year like this with such a big shift in the world to create the capacity to invest in areas,” the Google CEO said
On one side, we are seeing large companies laying off employees, And on the other side, we are witnessing the rise of Generative AI. If we go along with the line it is soon that generative AI will come to your doorstep, even as a salesman.
Is Human value not worth mentioning in front of workaholic Gen AI? The question stands unanswered, but we all know it in our thoughts.
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