JAKARTA - Silicon Valley tech giant Google is back in the spotlight after reportedly offering a voluntary resignation with compensation to employees in the United States. The move raises speculation that a wave of layoffs may soon follow, as the company faces market pressure to turn AI investment into a real advantage.
In an internal memo obtained by Reuters, Sundar Pichai CEO announced the appointment of Koray Kanukcuoglu, CTO of Google's AI laboratory DeepMind, as Chief AI Architect, a new position that will oversee the development of Google's AI-based products going forward. Kavakcuoglu will also serve as Senior Vice President and report directly to Pichai.
Kanukcuoglu, currently based in London, will move to California and remain a DeepMind CTO, continuing to report to DeepMind CEO, Demis Hassabis. Pichai said that in his new role, Kavakcuoglu will accelerate the integration of AI models into Google products more efficiently and quickly.
Google is under pressure to show concrete results from their AI investment, which this year is estimated at 75 billion US dollars (around Rp1,224 trillion). Companies must maintain profitability amid the onslaught of AI competition and potential antitrust law enforcement.
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In an I/O conference last May, Google introduced a variety of AI products and demos, including the latest smart glasses and premium AI subscription plans for $249.99 per month (approximately IDR 4 million) for intensive users.
Pichai stated that Google is now entering a "new phase in the shift of the AI platform", stressing that the presence of a generating AI does not completely shift the dominance of their online search (search engine).
Surprisingly, Google has also just signed an agreement to provide cloud computing capacity to its largest rival in the AI world, OpenAI. This unexpected collaboration marks strategic cooperation between the two main players who usually compete tightly in the industry.
However, behind Google's growing AI ambitions, signaling cost efficiency including the buyout option raises a big question mark: Will massive layoffs occur in the near future?
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