Google on Tuesday confirmed layoffs of several hundred people within its global ad sales team, as a growing number of administrative and creative tasks are automated using artificial intelligence (AI).
“Every year, we follow a rigorous process to structure our team to best serve our advertising clients (…). As part of this, several hundred jobs are being eliminated globally,” a spokesperson for the internet giant said.
“Affected employees will be able to apply for open positions within the team or elsewhere at Google,” he said.
This information was first reported by Business Insider.
The group in California confirmed that changes to this service will allow it to provide better support to small and medium-sized companies, while supporting more customers, while the rest of the employees will focus on customers from large companies.
Google also plans to create new roles and increase hiring this year, signaling a bigger shift than during the pandemic.
The online search giant did not mention generative AI (automated production of diverse content), which is however disrupting many sectors, including the advertising sector.
Last week, Google Cloud announced new AI and generative AI solutions to “help retailers personalize online shopping, modernize operations, and transform the deployment of new technologies in stores,” according to a press release from the Remote Computing Branch.
New tools allow brands to create virtual agents able to interact with consumers on websites and mobile apps, in a more flexible and complex way than chatbots without generative AI.
This technology, which has ignited Silicon Valley and beyond over the past year, is also accelerating and automating the innovation process.
“Generative AI to create and analyze product images, as well as associated descriptive text, and automatically generate content such as engaging product descriptions, product metadata, and search engine optimization (SEO)-adapted language,” asserts one of Google Cloud's new tools. Press release.
Google laid off about 12,000 people in January 2023 (6% of its workforce) in the face of inflation and high interest rates, which means less advertiser spending. The internet giant has since been forced to invest heavily in generative artificial intelligence.
