Google employees petition Sundar Pichai for stronger layoff safeguards as AI spending accelerates

Thousands of Google employees delivered a petition to CEO Sundar Pichai seeking stronger layoff protections as Alphabet pours more resources into artificial intelligence. Backed by more than 4,500 signatures and led by the Alphabet Workers Union, the petition calls for guaranteed severance, buyout options before any mandatory cuts across product areas, the ability to take severance as extended paid leave, and an end to quota-driven performance ratings. Union leaders cited Alphabet’s roughly $4 trillion valuation and recent job cuts, including reductions in Google Cloud and managerial ranks, as evidence of a profit-over-people shift. Google declined to comment. The push comes as Big Tech trims headcount while investing heavily in AI: Meta faces a lawsuit alleging AI tools flagged workers for layoffs, Oracle has warned AI adoption could drive further reductions, Block has attributed cuts to AI-driven efficiencies, and Microsoft has announced thousands of additional job eliminations. Alphabet’s CFO recently labeled AI a “key investment area,” while DeepMind’s chief argued replacing developers with AI reflects a lack of imagination.

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