Google to overhaul Assistant with generative AI, layoffs likely

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Google is going to overhaul Google Assistant with generative AI by adding features that will mirror popular chatbots like ChatGPT or the tech giant's own Bard.

According to a report in Axios, which reviewed an internal email sent to employees, some work on the revamp has already begun and Google will reorganise the teams that work on and maintain Assistant, which will likely lead to layoffs.

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The mail sent out by Google VP Peeyush Ranjan and Director of Product Duke Dukellis said there was "profound potential" in generative AI "to transform people's lives and see a huge opportunity to explore what a supercharged Assistant, powered by the latest LLM technology, would look like. (A portion of the team has already started working on this, beginning with mobile)".

Generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that learns from past data. It creates, or generates, new content which can be a text, an image or even a computer coded based on training.

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The reorganisation will mean the elimination of dozens of jobs. A source told Axios that were will be layoffs associated with the reorganisation of the Assistant teams.

"As part of this update, we are also eliminating a small number of roles within the team. We have already let these teammates know and we will provide dedicated support to help them through this transition," said the mail.