<\/p>\n
SAN FRANCISCO: Tech layoffs have piled up since the start of the year, but analysts say that it could be a new normal for Silicon Valley in a big pivot to artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n The cuts are not on the same scale as late 2022<\/a> and early 2023<\/a> when tech companies got rid of hundreds of thousands \u2014 a blowback from the hiring frenzy during the pandemic when companies ramped up employee counts as everyday life turned online.<\/p>\n That cull, dubbed the \u201cyear of efficiency\u201d by Facebook-owner Meta, succeeded, with most big tech stocks now riding high as they enter a quarterly earnings week expected be stellar.<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority of the massive layoffs are in the rearview mirror,\u201d Wedbush analysts Dan Ives said. \u201cBut now you\u2019re seeing more repositioning in big tech, where they\u2019re spending and doubling down on AI while cutting back on non strategic initiatives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For analysts, all eyes will be on AI when Microsoft, Meta, Google and Amazon release their results in the next few days.<\/p>\n \u2018Tough choices\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n In all, last year the tech industry lost 260,000 jobs according to layoffs.fyi, a California-based website that tracks the sector. So far this year, which is only four weeks old, layoffs are at 24,584, the site showed, from 93 companies.<\/p>\n Again the Silicon Valley giants are part of the list, with the notable exception of Apple which has largely stayed clear of the post-pandemic wave.<\/p>\n Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees on January 18 that layoffs are in store at the search engine giant as it focused on new priorities, including artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities this year,\u201d Pichai told his staff. \u201cThe reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices.\u201d Already in January, Google let staff go in a myriad divisions including ad sales, search, shopping, maps, policy, core engineering and YouTube teams.<\/p>\n Still, the cull is far from when Google cut 12,000 jobs after Christmas last year. Around that time, Amazon also cut tens of thousands of jobs and is still implementing that wave with job cuts announced this month in its entertainment and streaming division.<\/p>\n Microsoft announced that it is letting go nearly 2,000 workers from its gaming division, fallout from its blockbuster buyout of Activision Blizzard, the maker of \u201cCall of Duty.\u201d Ebay, Salesforce, Duolingo and dozens of other companies have also cut staff with struggling startups forced to keep employee numbers down as a high interest rate environment starves them of financing.<\/p>\n For Roger Lee, creator of the layoffs.fyi website, the main thrust remains the aftershocks of over-hiring when everyone was locked down at home. He also pointed to a copycat effect where companies announce layoffs because their rivals do, seeking the tacit approval of Wall Street or venture capitalists who approve of sound spending.<\/p>\n \u201cThat might be encouraging those companies in tech to cut costs and layoff staff,\u201d Lee told NPR, the US radio network. For Ives of Wedbush, investors \u201clike seeing that there\u2019s adults in the rooms\u201d when it comes to spending decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt sends a prudent message to investors, which is usually well received\u201d by Wall Street, he added.<\/p>\n Layoffs.fyi estimates that about 20 percent of the job losses are brought on by AI and restructuring connected to it. Silicon Valley jobs are on the front line with some coding tasks largely carried out by generative-AI.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wave of AI usage to improve business operations will affect every industry in every country,\u201d said John Blevins, guest lecturer at Cornell\u2019s SC Johnson College of Business.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tech sector, which moves faster than most others, is simply being altered by AI first.\u201d<\/p>\n Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Sept 28, 2023, file photo shows illustration of Meta AI logo.\u2014Reuters SAN FRANCISCO: Tech layoffs have piled up since the start of the year, but analysts say that it could be a new normal for Silicon Valley in a big pivot to artificial intelligence. The cuts are not on the same scale as late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/300855549915733.png?r=085600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}