Google: Google’s makeover for Assistant could lead to employees being fired

Google Assistant comes pre-installed on every Android smartphone. Right when you are setting up a new Android phone, you will get a prompt to activate it if you want. Assistant is a voice-based tool but now Google wants to give it an AI makeover. This move will cost some Google employees their jobs. According to a report by Axios, Google VP Peeyush Ranjan and director of product Duke Dukellis sent an email to employees informing them about the revamp of Assistant. “As a team, we need to focus on delivering high-quality, critical product experiences for our users. We’ve also seen the profound potential of generative AI to transform people’s lives and see a huge opportunity to explore what a supercharged Assistant, powered by the latest LLM technology, would look like,” the senior executives told the employees in the email.

Small number of employees to be laid off
One of the fallouts of the Assistant revamp will be employees losing their jobs. “As part of this update, we are also eliminating a small number of roles within the team. We have already let these teammates know and we will provide dedicated support to help them through this transition,” the email read.

All employees who will be laid off will get a minimum of 60 days internal search period, based on local requirements. “These have been incredibly difficult decisions, so please support teammates who are processing this news,” the executive told employees.
Google’s AI push for Assistant is not surprising. In the last few months, we have already seen AI making its presence felt in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and other apps. In the next few months, Google will roll out AI-powered search as well. This is a natural progression for Google, as AI is becoming increasingly powerful and capable. AI can be used to improve the accuracy and efficiency of many tasks, and Google is clearly committed to using AI to make its products and services better.
AI-powered search will be able to understand natural language better than current search engines, and it will be able to provide more relevant results. This will be a major improvement for users, as it will make it easier for them to find the information they need.