In a surprising move, Google is reportedly cutting jobs in its ad sales division, specifically within the “Large Customer Sales” (LCS) team, responsible for managing the company’s major advertising clients. The job cuts are said to affect “hundreds of employees.” The decision appears to align with Google’s ongoing integration of generative AI features into its advertising products.
The rise of AI in Google Ads has been noticeable, introducing features like a natural-language chatbot that assists users in navigating the complexities of ad products and a system capable of independently creating ad assets. The latter tool takes input from ad purchasers regarding budget and goals and generates images and text with precision, streamlining the ad creation process.
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These AI tools play a crucial role in Google’s “Performance Max” product, representing a shift towards autonomous ad management. The product utilizes AI to remix and fine-tune advertisements, using the click-through rate as instant feedback for optimization. This move signifies a significant shift towards AI-driven advertising, where technology autonomously analyzes and refines ads at a rapid pace, reducing the need for human intervention.
This recent round of layoffs follows previous job cuts across various Google divisions, including hardware, Google Assistant, and augmented reality (AR). Google’s integration of AI into different facets of its business appears to be impacting traditional roles, leading to restructuring and downsizing across the company.