Alphabets Google said on Wednesday it is laying off hundreds of people working on its voice-activated Google Assistant software and eliminating a similar number of roles in the companys Devices and Services team.The layoffs at Google Assistant, first reported by news platform Semafor, are part of organizational changes that have been in place since the second half of 2023, which included layoffs at the companys mapping app Waze.A few hundred roles are being cut in the companys Devices and Services team, with the majority in the 1P AR hardware team, Google confirmed, verifying a report by tech media website 9to5Google, which first reported the reorganization.Throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient, work better, and align their resources with their biggest product priorities. Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally, a spokesperson said.The spokesperson did not specify the exact number of roles being impacted. It is not immediately clear how many people are part of the Google Assistant software and Devices and Services teams.As of September 2023, Alphabet had 182,381 employees globally.Last October, the company said it plans to add generative AI features from its Bard chatbot into Googles version of a virtual assistant that provides personalized help with reasoning and generative capabilities on mobile devices.
