According to a report by The Information, Google is considering reorganizing a significant portion of its ad sales unit, which consists of 30,000 employees, due to the company’s recent progress in artificial intelligence.
It is worth mentioning that earlier this year, Google made the decision to lay off approximately 12,000 employees, marking the largest job cut in the company’s history.
The report states that a number of positions in the ad sales unit are becoming obsolete due to Google’s implementation of advanced AI tools. These tools are capable of generating and recommending effective ads for customers, minimizing the need for manual intervention from employees.
In 2021, Google introduced its AI-powered campaign planner, Performance Max. However, at the Google I/O event earlier this year, the company enhanced the ad tool by incorporating generative AI-based capabilities. This update allows users to effortlessly create custom assets and scale them with just a few clicks.
According to a report by Information, an increasing number of advertisers have embraced Performance Max. This new approach eliminates the requirement for employees who focus on selling ads for specific Google services like YouTube, Search, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
Last week, Google’s president of the Americas and Global Partners, Sean Downey, internally announced the restructuring of the ad sales unit during a meeting. According to The Information, the executive did not provide any information about whether the reorganization would result in additional job cuts.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai Discusses Firing 12,000:
During the meeting, an employee inquired about the decision made nearly a year ago to downsize our workforce. Could you please provide some insights into the effects of this decision on our growth, P&L, and morale?
The CEO of Google expressed that the decision has greatly affected the morale of the employees, describing it as one of the most challenging choices for the company. He mentioned that at Google, they haven’t experienced a moment quite like that in 25 years.
Sundar Pichai described the decision as “difficult but necessary.” The CEO of Alphabet mentioned that not cutting those jobs last year would have resulted in a worse decision in the future.
“It would have been a significant burden for the company. The Google CEO mentioned that it would have been challenging to allocate resources to new investments given the significant changes happening in the world this year.
