https://arstechnica.com/google/2024/01/google-lays-off-hundreds-more-as-ad-division-switches-to-ai-powered-sales/

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Performance Max is like Skynet, but for ads --

Google lays off "hundreds" more as ad division switches to AI-powered
sales

Googlers are now building AI tools so other Googlers can be laid off.

Ron Amadeo - Jan 16, 2024 10:09 pm UTC

A large Google logo at a trade fair.
Enlarge
Getty Images | Alexander Koerner

reader comments

43

In December, we heard that job cuts might be coming for Google's ad
sales division, and it's here. Business Insider reports Google is
laying off "hundreds of employees" from the ad sales team. The cuts
are mostly in the "Large Customer Sales" (LCS) team, which serves the
company's biggest advertising clients.

We expected this. The Information detailed that layoffs would come to
Google's Ad division this month. That report said that many of those
are being laid off or reassigned because AI is replacing them. Google
has been packing Google Ads--its most important product--with tons of
generative AI features lately. One is a natural-language chatbot that
helps people navigate the large selection of ad products; another is
a system that can just make ad assets like images and text on its own
based on a budget and goals given by the ad purchaser. Google's
generative AI ad system is part of a product called "Performance Max"
which works by autonomously remixing and tweaking your ads using the
click-through rate as an instant feedback system. Google used to have
humans do sales guidance for its products, create art assets, and
decide on text and layouts, but now AI can do it a thousand times a
second.

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For Google, this is the latest in an increasing number of layoffs
since last year. Last week, there were "hundreds" laid off from the
hardware, Google Assistant, and AR divisions. Before that, there were
layoffs in Google News, and before that, layoffs came to recruiting,
Waze, Waymo, a robot division, and generally all across Google.

The Business Insider report has the full staff memo that Philipp
Schindler, Google's chief business officer, sent to the staff
announcing the layoffs. The memo doesn't reference AI as a reason for
the layoffs, but given the previous report, it seems that Googlers
are now working to put some of their co-workers out of a job. This
will be one of the first of what's expected to be a wave of
generative AI job cuts across the industry.

reader comments

43
 
Ron Amadeo Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he
specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the
hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they
work. He loves to tinker and always seems to be working on a new
project.
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