The image of sticky figures displayed on a laptop screen and the binary code displayed on a phone screen are shown in this illustration taken in Krakow, Poland on January 24, 2023. (Photo by Jakub Purzycki/Noor Photo via Getty Images)
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As technology companies prioritize investments in artificial intelligence and embark on a hiring spree, other sectors will likely see layoffs continue into 2024, according to industry experts.
More than 20,000 tech employees have already lost their jobs so far in 2024, according to the tracker Layoffs. For your information.
“Google and the rest of the big tech companies are betting big on AI while cutting back on non-strategic areas. Layoffs will continue at big tech companies in some areas, while the AI hiring frenzy will be unprecedented as the arms race continues across the world,” he said. Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush Securities, told CNBC.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees last week that there would be more job cuts this year as the company continues to shift investments toward artificial intelligence.
“We have ambitious goals and will invest in our top priorities this year,” Pichai wrote in a Jan. 17 memo to staff, adding that the administration was preparing to share its AI goals and objectives for 2024. “The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment,” Pichai said. We have to make difficult choices.”
Google cut hundreds of jobs earlier this month in its pursuit of efficiency and focus on its “biggest product priorities,” as it tries to catch up with rival Microsoft, which has integrated ChatGPT into Bing search and pushed Google to beef up its search engine with artificial intelligence features.
“We don't live in a zero interest rate environment anymore. And now they really need to find ways to cut costs so they can invest here. It's very expensive to train AI and deploy AI. And I think that's what's happening with Google today,” Alex said. Kantrowitz, founder of Big Tech, on CNBC's “Power Lunch” show last week.
“This is something I expect other big tech companies will follow,” Kantrowitz said on January 18.
German enterprise software company SAP announced Tuesday that it will restructure about 8,000 jobs “Increase its focus on key strategic growth areas, particularly business AI.” In 2024.
“It is expected that the majority of the approximately 8,000 affected jobs will be covered by voluntary furlough programs and internal reskilling measures,” the company said, adding that headcount should remain the same by the end of the year.
Amazon, which is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, laid off hundreds of employees in its streaming video and studio divisions earlier this month. Jobs at streaming platform Twitch and audiobook unit Audible have also been eliminated.
Mike Hopkins, who oversees the Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions, said the company has “identified opportunities to reduce or halt investments” while investing more in other areas that have the greatest impact.
Amazon Web Services, the e-commerce giant's cloud services business, said on January 19 that it is likely to pump 2.26 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) into Japan by 2027 to expand cloud computing infrastructure that is key to artificial intelligence services.
Other companies are also looking to cut jobs to focus on their AI businesses.
Vroom will cut about 800 jobs, according to the US online used car marketplace Regulatory filing Last week, as I planned Focus on auto financing and AI services And the closure of e-commerce and used car trading companies.
Earlier this month, Media reports She said Duolingo will cut 10% of its contractors as the language-learning app moves toward using artificial intelligence to create content.
“A few years ago, what [firms] What they could have done was just hire away… and not worry about where they had to go earlier. “But that’s gone,” Kantrowitz said.
The mass layoffs began in 2022 and extended into 2023 as global macroeconomic headwinds such as rising interest rates and inflation rates caused consumers to pull back on spending amid uncertainty in the global economy.
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