More Google layoffs soon? Here's what CEO Sundar Pichai has to say about it

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has spoken out about the possibility of a second round of layoffs for the tech giant. In a discussion with the Wall Street Journal, Pichai stated that the company is "very, very focused" on their current opportunities and that there is "a lot of work left". He also mentioned that they are prioritizing their most important areas and moving people accordingly.

When asked about the goal of making the company 20 per cent more efficient, Pichai explained that they are "literally looking at every aspect of what we do" and are working on re-engineering their cost base in a durable way. While he noted that progress has been made, there is still more work to be done.

Pichai said, "We’re very, very focused on this set of opportunities we have, and I think there’s a lot of work left. There’s also an important inflection point with AI. Where we can, we are definitely prioritizing and moving people to our most important areas, so that is ongoing work."

He further added, "We are trying to accomplish that across many different ways. We’re literally looking at every aspect of what we do, and as we said on our last earnings call, we’re thinking about how to re-engineer our cost base in a durable way. We are definitely being focused on creating durable savings. We are pleased with the progress, but there’s more work left to do."

This comes after Google announced plans in January to lay off around 12,000 workers globally. The layoffs began in the US. Roughly 450 Indian employees were also affected by it. The timing of the layoffs coincided with the lackluster debut of the Google Bard AI, which made a factual error during its presentation, leading to a $100 billion wipe-out in Google's valuation.

In an effort to save on expenses, Google has also made changes to employee services, including reducing the frequency of laptop updates and cutting down on small expenses like staplers and snacks.

While Pichai did not confirm or deny the possibility of a second round of layoffs, it is clear that the company is focused on improving efficiency and prioritizing important areas. Meta and Amazon are two tech giants that have resorted to a second round of layoffs. 

Also read: Alibaba launches ChatGPT-like AI model Tongyi Qianwen to take on OpenAI, Microsoft Bing, Google Bard