Google’s Restructuring Strategy Impacts Voice-Activated Assistant Team

As part of Google’s restructuring strategy, the company is undergoing significant workforce changes, leading to the layoff of hundreds working on its voice-activated Google Assistant software and the elimination of a similar number of positions within its knowledge and information product teams. Google asserts that this strategic realignment is aimed at enhancing Google Assistant through the integration of advanced artificial intelligence technology. Back in October, Google unveiled its use of the generative AI chatbot Bard to develop an upgraded version of Google Assistant, expanding its capabilities beyond voice, fostering better user understanding and adaptation, and innovatively handling personal tasks.

Google’s Restructuring Strategy: Impact on Core Engineering, Google Assistant, and Hardware Divisions

As per Google’s Restructuring Strategy, the Silicon Valley company has cut jobs in its central engineering division. This includes employees working on the Google Assistant and the hardware team responsible for products like Pixel phones, Fitbit watches, and Nest thermostats, according to information from three sources. Two of these insiders noted that numerous employees in the core engineering group experienced a revocation of corporate access and received official notices about their roles being eliminated.

Google verified the reductions in Assistant positions, as reported by Semafor, and the job cuts in the hardware department, previously disclosed by the blog 9to5Google.

Navigating Layoffs and Strategic Cost Reductions Under Sundar Pichai’s Leadership

As per The New York Times Since July 2022, under Google’s restructuring strategy led by CEO Sundar Pichai, the company has been steering towards a sharper focus and cost-cutting measures in response to a challenging global economy. January 2023 witnessed Google’s largest layoff in history, affecting 12,000 employees, constituting 6 percent of the workforce. Corporate leaders persist in underscoring significant cost reductions, specifically honing in on the burgeoning field of generative artificial intelligence. Google, with a workforce of 182,000 employees as of September 30, clarified that the recent layoffs were part of routine business reorganizations.

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Google Bard recently provided a sneak peek of the Google Bard AI assistant’s interface, with the official launch date still undisclosed. According to a recent report, there are multiple new features in development for the Google Bard AI chatbot. These Google Bard Chatbot’s latest features were discovered hidden on the Google Bard website.

Google has just introduced Gemini, a powerful model that can do many things in language, vision, and audio. Developers can use it, and Google is also putting it into its own products. One exciting project is Pixie, a special AI assistant for Pixel 9. According to a report from The Information Google is working on a smarter Android AI assistant called Pixie, set to launch with the Pixel 9 phone.

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