Google recently laid off about 200 Google contractors who helped moderate and improve AI products.
The news came from Wired, which reported more than 200 workers had “been laid off without warning in at least two rounds of layoffs last month.” The tech-focused magazine spoke with a number of the workers, who alleged the layoffs followed issues over pay and job security. These contractors, Wired noted, are specialists — holding a master’s or a PhD — who use their expertise to help teach and moderate AI products like chatbots, or Google’s AI Overviews.
The workers, meanwhile, alleged unfavorable working conditions, with two former employees taking complaints to the National Labor Relations Board alleging they were unfairly fired.
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“These individuals are employees of GlobalLogic or their subcontractors, not Alphabet,” Courtenay Mencini, a Google spokesperson, told Wired in a statement. “As the employers, GlobalLogic and their subcontractors are responsible for the employment and working conditions of their employees. We take our supplier relations seriously and audit the companies we work with against our Supplier Code of Conduct.”
It’s proven a tumultuous time for Google’s AI products. This week, Penske Media Corporation — publisher of Rolling Stone, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Billboard — sued Google, alleging it used the company’s content in AI Overviews without consent.
