Due to a recent wave of mass layoffs, it has been a brutal begin of the 12 months for tech staff, and staff might not be out of the woods.
As of January 2024, 89 tech firms have laid off virtually 25,000 staff, in keeping with tracker web site Layoffs.fyi. And one analyst additionally mentioned there will likely be extra redundancies throughout the business this 12 months, primarily as they pivot their focus to spending on the AI sector.
“Google and the remainder of Massive Tech are betting large on AI whereas reducing again on non-strategic areas,” Dan Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, instructed CNBC. Layoffs will proceed in some areas, whereas”the hiring frenzy in AI will likely be unprecedented as this arms race continues throughout the tech world.”
Ives did not instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider earlier than publication.
Earlier this month, Google slashed a whole bunch of roles centered on Google Assistant and its health tracker Fitbit, but has launched a slate of AI merchandise like its new Google Chrome options. Following the corporate’s newest spherical of layoffs, Google CEO Sundar Pichai introduced in a workers memo that extra roles will likely be eradicated this 12 months to “drive velocity in some areas.”
Across the identical time as Google’s layoffs, Amazon mentioned it is reducing “a number of hundred” staff throughout Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. The e-commerce large has additionally been doubling down on its AI investments.
Earlier this week, SAP mentioned it might supply buyouts or totally different positions to eight,000 staff as a part of its $2.2 billion “transformation program” to show its consideration to AI to chop prices and enhance income.
However whereas rising funding in AI might quickly put extra out of labor, new roles are being created inside the AI area. Firms like Apple, Meta, and Nvidia are actively trying to fill AI-focused roles associated to machine studying and pure language processing for salaries properly over six figures, in keeping with job listings, in an try and courtroom the most effective generative AI expertise.
In different phrases, working in AI could also be what saves you from dropping your job to AI.
