Google CEO warns of more layoffs in 2024 amid artificial intelligence push

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is warning his employees to brace themselves for more layoffs this year as the company reallocates resources toward artificial intelligence.

Pichai, who is also CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, told employees this month that the tech giant would "remove layers [of its workforce]" this year to free up funds for "investing in… [the company's] big priorities" in a memo sent to employees, a Google representative confirmed to CBS MoneyWatch.  

The cost cutting comes as the company jockeys for the lead in an AI arms race, with Google slated to announce its AI goals for the year later this week. Just last month, the tech giant launched Gemini, the "biggest upgrade yet" to its AI chatbot Bard.

Before that, the company committed investing $2 billion into OpenAI competitor Anthropic, CNBC reported. 

"The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices," Pichai wrote. 

Pichai did not specify which roles, or how many, would be eliminated, but said the layoffs would be less extensive than last year's job cuts and would "not touch every team," according to the letter. 

Several tech companies, including Microsoft and Samsung, are developing their own AI models as investor excitement about the new technology mounts. Experts predict the industry could be worth more than $2 trillion in 2032, a report from research firm Spherical Insights & Consulting shows. 

Last year, Google eliminated more than 12,000 roles in its hardware, shopping, core engineering, policy and ad sales teams. Its layoffs have carried into the new year, with Google cutting hundreds of people in its hardware, voice assistance and engineering divisions earlier this month.

In:
• Google
• AI

Elizabeth Napolitano

Elizabeth Napolitano is a freelance reporter at CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and technology news. She also writes for CoinDesk. Before joining CBS, she interned at NBC News' BizTech Unit and worked on The Associated Press' web scraping team.