Sundar Pichai says sorry as Google parent Alphabet begins firing 12,000 workers globally

Sundar Pichai, Alphabet's CEO, said in the note, "I am confident about the huge opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI."

Pichai said Alphabet would be paying affected employees 16 weeks of severance and six months' worth of health benefits in the US, with other regions receiving packages based on local laws and practices. He also said he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."

He added, "Googlers, I have some difficult news to share. We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected.

This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I’m deeply sorry for that. I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices."

The news comes during a period of economic uncertainty as well as technological promise, in which Google and Microsoft have been investing in a fledgling area of software known as generative artificial intelligence.