Google’s Space 120 division has been severely affected by the layoffs taking place throughout Alphabet, in line with Bloomberg and TechCrunch, which stated the unit now has fewer than 100 staff after the latest spherical of cuts. Space 120 is named Google’s in-house incubator, which works on experimental apps and merchandise. These embrace GameSnacks, an HTML5-based platform that allows customers to load and play video games shortly even on poor connections and primary smartphones. Sundar Pichai established the division in 2016 to “present a purpose-built house for bottom-up innovation at Google.” The division’s web site reads: “Space 120 groups work on new merchandise, experiences, and companies each day.”
Alphabet just lately admitted that it was chopping 12,000 jobs, which is round six p.c of its international workforce. The layoffs “minimize throughout Alphabet, product areas, capabilities, ranges and areas,” but it surely’s sure to have an effect on sure divisions greater than others, seeing as the corporate carried out “a rigorous overview… to make sure that [its] folks and roles are aligned with [its] highest priorities as an organization.”
A spokesperson instructed Bloomberg that the corporate has “made the tough choice to wind down nearly all of the Space 120 workforce.” TechCrunch says the division sometimes works on 20 initiatives at any given time, however solely three will “graduate” or will probably be folded into Google later this 12 months. Virtually everybody who is not concerned in these three initiatives has reportedly misplaced their jobs.
Throughout a spherical of cuts at Space 120 again in September, a Google spokesperson stated that the division is “shifting its focus to initiatives that construct on Google’s deep funding in AI and have the potential to unravel vital consumer issues.” It is unclear if any of the three “graduating” initiatives are AI-related or if the remaining workforce members are engaged on something synthetic intelligence. In accordance with a current New York Instances report, although, Google is gearing as much as showcase at the very least 20 AI-powered merchandise and a chatbot for search this 12 months.
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