The layoffs come as Google faces increasing competition in the search market from AI startups like OpenAI and Perplexity. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the changing economic reality in a January 2023 email to staff, noting that the company had previously hired for a different economic situation. The company is making these changes to become more efficient and work better, according to a company spokesperson.
Key takeaways:
- Google is laying off hundreds of staff working on Google Assistant and other devices and services, including Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman.
- The layoffs were part of an effort to become more efficient and work better, with some teams continuing to make organizational changes, including role eliminations globally.
- Google's parent company, Alphabet, laid off about 6% of its employees, or around 12,000 workers, last January.
- Google faces competition from AI upstarts like OpenAI and Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity, who aim to challenge Google's dominance in search with their chatbots.