Google CEO says job cuts wanted in 2024 to serve ‘ambitious goals’

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is warning workers that extra job cuts are coming this yr as the corporate continues to shift investments towards areas like synthetic intelligence.

In a memo titled “2024 priorities and the year ahead” that staffers acquired Wednesday night, Pichai stated, “we have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities this year.” Within the memo, which was obtained by CNBC, Pichai stated firm management is gearing as much as share its AI objectives for the yr this week and can publish its 2024 OKRs (targets and key outcomes).

“The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices,” Pichai wrote. For some groups which means eliminating roles, which incorporates “removing layers to simplify execution and drive velocity,” he added.

The Verge was first to report on the memo. A Google spokesperson did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

Pichai’s newest messaging indicators continued price cuts at Google following quite a few rounds of layoffs that started in January of 2023, when the corporate announced it was eliminating 12,000 jobs, or roughly 6% of the full-time workforce. Google additionally cut back on some perks in addition to laptops and tools.

For the reason that calendar turned, Google has cut several hundred additional jobs in areas together with central engineering, {hardware} and advertising.

Pichai stated in Wednesday’s memo that, “to be upfront, some teams will continue to make resource allocation decisions.” He stated layoffs received’t be on the scale of final yr’s reductions and “will not touch every team.”

Shares of Google mum or dad Alphabet jumped 55% final yr as tech shares rallied following a brutal 2022, pushed partially by pleasure about AI. Income within the third quarter returned to double-digit progress alongside a rebound within the digital advert market.

Final month, Google launched its largest and most succesful AI mannequin, Gemini. In some exams, the mannequin’s efficiency incrementally surpassed the GPT-4 mannequin from OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT.

WATCH: Google to cut hundreds of jobs as big tech layoffs continue