Google Suspended R&D Projects As Pichai Aimed 20% More Efficiency

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai wants to increase productivity by 20% while also implying job cutbacks. This comes as the internet giant canceled projects at Area 120, its internal research and development division (R&D).

Pichai told the audience at the US Code Conference that the firm feels increasingly uneasy about the macroeconomic environment the more it attempts to comprehend it.

He informed the audience that "The macroeconomic performance is correlated to ad spend, consumer spend and so on,"

According to TechCrunch, the business is cutting projects at Area 120, its in-house R&D branch, which employs close to 100 employees.

"We've recently shared that Area 120 will be shifting its focus to projects that build on Google's deep investment in AI and have the potential to solve important user problems. As a result, Area 120 is winding down several projects to make way for new work," A representative for Google was cited as stating.

The spokesman stated that affected team members "will receive dedicated support as they explore new projects and opportunities at Google",

A number of products have been released by Area 120, including the gaming platform GameSnacks, the AirTable rival Tables, the conversational advertising platform AdLingo powered by AI, the video platforms Tangi and Shoploop, and more.

If expectations are not reached, Google has reportedly stopped employing new workers and urged some current workers to "shape up or ship out."

Google officials reportedly urged staff to either raise performance or be ready to depart as "there will be blood on the streets" if the next quarterly results are not excellent as Big Tech companies lay off people in the global economic slump.