Google cuts hundreds of jobs in voice assistance and hardware teams as Fitbit founder leaves

Google is laying off hundreds of employees across multiple departments, including engineering and services.

Affected departments include the voice-activated Google Assistant as part of a reorganization of the knowledge and information products team; and the Devices and Services PA (DSPA) team that manages Pixel, Nest and Fitbit hardware.

The company, which had 182,000 employees as of September 30, 2023, confirmed the development but downplayed the situation through a statement, indicating that the layoffs were part of organizational changes.

“To better position us to seize these opportunities, in the second half of 2023, many of our teams made changes to become more efficient, work better, and realign resources to our most important product priorities. Some teams are continuing Making such organizational changes will include eliminating some roles globally,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Alphabet’s union said on

According to a first report by 9to5Google, Google has also laid off most of its AR hardware team and will cooperate with other OEM manufacturers. The report also mentioned that Google will now have one core hardware engineering team, instead of separate teams responsible for Pixel, Fitbit and Nest.

The company also confirmed to TechCrunch that Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman will leave as part of the restructuring.

In addition, according to Semafor reports, the company has also laid off personnel from the Google Assistant team. The company began injecting artificial intelligence capabilities into Google Assistant through Bard last year, hoping to expand Assistant “beyond voice.” During the Pixel event in October, Google said Assistant could browse apps like Gmail and Drive to respond to queries related to specific emails and files.

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