🖥️Tl;dr What's happening at Google

Happy Sunday early birds! Today we're discussing everything that's been happening at Google over the last few months from layoffs to the push to build AI products.

Estimated read time: 1.1 minutes

Google is laying off 12,000 employees and is set to unveil 20 products that are built around AI. 

Why it matters: Google has been functioning as a holding company and retirement home for young people since it achieved search engine supremacy, but advances in AI are causing them to panic and the challenging macro environment has forced them to lay off 12,000 workers. 

Where Google laid off the most: Google didn't concentrate layoffs in any particular part of their business. However, Google did lay off employees who had previously received high performance reviews or held leadership positions (The Information).

Where Google didn't lay off: Google Cloud and Google Brain (AI lab).

• Why it matters: Google's Cloud and Brain division are key to its future as it seeks to not only compete with Microsoft but with OpenAI.

What we know about Google's near future: According to the NYT, Google is set to unveil 20 products and embed an AI chatbot into its search engine this year and is calling in Sergey and Larry for their help to meet the challenges ahead.The alternative take: Google may be overcorrecting and in their quest to compete with OpenAI and may release rushed and bad products. 

The big picture view: This will probably be the year where AI becomes more than just recommendation engines due to Google and OpenAI's progress and products.

The bottom line: Google's prepping for the first possible challenge in decades and they seem prepared to meet it.

Go deeper:

• Read the article from The New York Times (paywalled).

• Read the article from The Information (paywalled).