Google offers buyouts to more workers amid AI-driven tech upheaval and antitrust uncertainty
Google has offered buyouts to another swath of its workforce across several key divisions in a fresh round of cost cutting coming ahead of a court decision that could order a breakup of its internet empire. The Mountain View, California, company confirmed the streamlining that was reported by several news outlets.
It's not clear how many employees are affected, but the offers were made to staff in Google's search, advertising, research and engineering units, according to The Wall Street Journal. Google employs most of the nearly 186,000 workers on the worldwide payroll of its parent company, Alphabet Inc.
'Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,' a Google spokesperson, Courtenay Mencini, said in a statement.
'A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in-person,' Mencini said.
Google is offering the buyouts while awaiting for a federal judge to determine its fate after its ubiquitous search engine was declared an illegal monopoly as part of nearly 5-year-old case by the U.S. Justice Department. The company is also awaiting remedy action in another antitrust case involving its digital ad network.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is weighing a government proposal seeking to ban Google paying more than $26 billon annually to Apple and other technology companies to lock in its search engine as the go-to place for online information, require it to share data with rivals and force a sale of its popular Chrome browser. The judge is expected to rule before Labor Day, clearing the way for Google to pursue its plan to appeal last year's decision that labeled its search engine as a monopoly.
The proposed dismantling coincides with ongoing efforts by the Justice Department to force Google to part with some of the technology powering the company's digital ad network after a federal judge ruled that its digital ad network has been improperly abusing its market power to stifle competition to the detriment of online publishers.
Like several of its peers in Big Tech, Google has been periodically reducing its headcount since 2023 as the industry began to backtrack from the hiring spree that was triggered during pandemic lockdowns that spurred feverish demand for digital services.
Google began its post-pandemic retrenchment by laying off 12,000 workers in early 2023 and since then as been trimming some divisions to help bolster its profits while ramping up its spending on artificial intelligence — a technology driving an upheaval that is starting to transform its search engine into a more conversational answer engine.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
10 minutes ago
- Forbes
Google Issues ‘Critical Security' Warning For All Pixel Users
Google surprised Pixel users in July, with a monthly security update lacking any actual security updates. But we're back on train for August. Google has confirmed a 'critical security vulnerability' that opens phones to remote attacks. Ironically, despite all its other security benefits, this threat only affects Android 16. So there's some good news for Samsung users who would otherwise continue to harbor frustration at the company's latest Android upgrade delays—maybe. Google warns CVE-2025-48530 'could lead to remote code execution in combination with other bugs, with no additional execution privileges needed.' It emphasizes that 'user interaction is not needed for exploitation' of this System level flaw. This isn't the only fix, with a number of high-severity vulnerabilities addressed as well. But the critical bug will generate the most attention, especially as it affects just the latest version of the Android OS. As ever, Pixels have been first to this new software. The update will now be released for Pixels and you can expect it to roll out to phones within days. Again a stark difference between Google's phones and Samsung's, with Android's leading OEM still subject to a patchwork quilt of updates by region, model and carrier, and lacking 'seamless' updates across almost all devices. As ever you can check your Pixel device has the latest security updates installed. Owners of other smartphones, Samsung included, should check their own monthly bulletins to confirm the fixes, the timing and the model eligibility. Samsung's own August monthly security release has also just been issued.
Business Journals
2 hours ago
- Business Journals
Volanti Displays unveils its largest tabletop touchscreen for AEC professionals
MORGAN HILL, CA | June 19 2025 – Volanti Displays today announced a 55" tabletop touchscreen that gives construction teams a larger shared workspace without reconfiguring offices or job-site trailers. The new model joins the 32" and 43" units introduced when COVID restrictions first drove remote plan review, a shift that made the 43" version the company's second-best-selling product. The 55" tabletop delivers the same commercial-grade 4K panel used in Volanti plan review tables and desks while arriving at a lower price. A steel bracket lets users position the display at 45°, 50°, or 55°, giving crews the right angle for markups, takeoffs, and client walk-throughs. The wider canvas lets two or three teammates review drawings together, so smaller crews get the feedback they need without adding extra workstations. 'Teams asked for more viewing area that still fits limited space and budget,' said Michael Sarich, Vice President of Sales at Volanti Displays. 'This release gives them that larger canvas with the reliability they expect from every Volanti product.' Key facts Sizes now available: 32", 43", 55" Commercial-grade 4K panel identical to Volanti tables and desks Bracket positions: 45°, 50°, 55° Compatible out of the box with Bluebeam, Autodesk, Sketchup, and other construction software Orders open June 24 2025; first units ship mid-July from Morgan Hill, California From preconstruction huddles to final walk-throughs, Volanti Displays gives teams a single screen that holds every plan set and stands up to daily jobsite demands. About Volanti Displays Founded in 2014, Volanti Displays designs and assembles large-format touch solutions for architecture, engineering, and construction professionals worldwide. All products are built in Morgan Hill, California, and tested to perform in real-world field conditions.
Business Insider
5 hours ago
- Business Insider
An AI data trap catches Perplexity impersonating Google
If you want to succeed in AI, a good hack would be to impersonate Google. You just can't get caught. This is what just happened to Perplexity, a startup that competes with ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and other generative AI services. Quality data is crucial for success in AI, but tech companies don't want to pay for this, so they crawl the web and scrape information for free, often without permission. This has sparked a backlash by some content creators and others interested in preserving the incentives that built the web. Cloudflare and its CEO, Matthew Prince, have stormed into this battle with new features that help websites block unwanted AI bot crawlers. Cloudflare is an infrastructure, security, and software company that helps run about 20% of the internet. It thrives when the web does well, hence its interest in helping sites get paid for content. Some Cloudflare customers recently complained to the company that Perplexity was evading these blocks and continued to scrape and collect data without permission. So, CloudFlare set a digital trap and caught this startup red-handed, according to a Monday blog describing the escapade. "Some supposedly 'reputable' AI companies act more like North Korean hackers," Prince wrote on X on Monday. "Time to name, shame, and hard block them." Perplexity didn't respond to a request for comment. The bait: Honeytrap domains and locked doors Cloudflare created entirely new, unpublished websites and configured them with files that explicitly blocked all crawlers — including Perplexity's declared bots, PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User. These test sites had no public links, search engine entries, or metadata that would normally make them discoverable. Yet, when Cloudflare queried Perplexity's AI with questions about these specific sites, the startup's service responded with detailed information that could only have come from those restricted pages. The conclusion? Perplexity had accessed the content despite being clearly told not to. The cloak: How Perplexity masked its crawl Perplexity initially crawled these sites using its official user-agent string, complying with standard protocols. However, Cloudflare said it discovered that once blocked, Perplexity resorted to stealth tactics. Cloudflare found that Perplexity began deploying undeclared crawlers disguised as normal web browsers and sending requests from unknown or rotated IP addresses and unofficial ASNs, [what is ASN? write out on first ref?] which are crucial identifiers that help route internet traffic efficiently. When its official crawlers were blocked, Perplexity also used a generic web browser designed to impersonate Google's Chrome browser on Apple Mac computers. (Business Insider asked Google whether it has told Perplexity to stop impersonating Chrome. Google did not respond). According to Cloudflare, Perplexity has been making millions of such "stealth" requests daily across tens of thousands of web domains. This behavior not only violated web standards, but also betrays the fundamental trust that underpins the functioning of the open web, Cloudflare explained. The comparison: How OpenAI gets it right To emphasize what good bot behavior looks like, Cloudflare compared Perplexity's conduct to that of OpenAI's crawlers, which scrape data for developing ChatGPT and giant AI models such as the upcoming GPT-5. When OpenAI's bots encountered a file or a similar block, they simply backed off. No circumvention. No masking. No backdoor crawling, according to Cloudflare tests. The Fallout: De-verification and blocking As a result of these findings, Cloudflare has de-listed Perplexity as a verified bot and rolled out new detection and blocking techniques across its network. Cloudflare's takedown serves as a cautionary tale in the AI arms race. While the web shifts toward stronger control over data access and usage, actors who flout these evolving norms may find themselves not just blocked, but publicly called out. In an era where AI systems are hungry for training data, Cloudflare's sting operation is a signal to startups and established players alike: Respect the rules of the web, or risk being exposed.
