Google has announced a significant reorganisation to enhance its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, led by CEO Sundar Pichai. This strategic move, aimed at streamlining operations and consolidating various AI teams under the leadership of Demis Hassabis, founder of Google’s subsidiary DeepMind, seeks to foster greater efficiency and innovation. This restructuring reflects Google’s commitment to compete more aggressively in the AI space, particularly against rivals like Microsoft. The realignment follows temporary setbacks, such as the halt of image generation in the Gemini chatbot, and precedes Google’s upcoming Q1 earnings report and its highly anticipated I/O developer conference.

In a related development, Google has terminated 28 employees who protested against the company’s involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud services contract with the Israeli government. The protests, organized by No Tech for Apartheid, took place in Google’s New York and California offices, where demonstrators opposed Google’s engagement in governmental military contracts. Google justified the firings by stating that the employees obstructed work and contravened company policies. The company reaffirmed that Project Nimbus does not entail sensitive or military-related workloads and aligns with its terms of service. These events occur against a backdrop of increased tensions in Gaza, underlining the complex interplay between corporate actions and geopolitical issues.