Google lays off over 100 design employees as it shifts resources to AI
Nickie Louise
Posted On October 3, 2025
Google is once again trimming its workforce. This time, more than 100 employees in design-related roles are being let go as the company tightens spending and channels more resources into its growing AI push, CNBC reported.
According to internal documents viewed by CNBC, the layoffs hit teams inside Google’s cloud unit earlier this week.. Impacted groups include “quantitative user experience research” and “platform and service experience” teams, as well as some adjacent units. These roles focus on using data, surveys, and research methods to shape how Google products are built and experienced.
Sources familiar with the matter say Google has reduced some of its cloud design teams by 50 percent, with many of the affected positions based in the U.S. Employees who weren’t immediately let go have until early December to find new roles within the company. Google declined to comment. Business Insider first reported that some cloud positions were being cut.
The decision comes as Google steps up its cost-cutting campaign to fund its AI infrastructure ambitions. Since the start of the year, the company has offered voluntary exit packages to several U.S. units and removed more than a third of its managers who oversaw smaller teams. Just a month ago, Google cut 35% of its managers in an effort to strip away layers of bureaucracy and consolidate leadership. Many of those whose roles were eliminated have stayed on as individual contributors, according to someone familiar with the company’s plans.
The company has also been encouraging employees to incorporate more AI into their daily work, a clear sign of where leadership wants the focus to be. Buyouts have been offered to staff across human resources, hardware, search, ads, marketing, finance, and commerce divisions.
Back in August, CNBC reported that CEO Sundar Pichai told employees the company needs “to be more efficient as we scale up so we don’t solve everything with headcount.” That message is now being put into practice across multiple divisions.
Google isn’t alone in tightening its belt. Microsoft laid off 9,000 employees across different functions in July, and Meta has conducted its own series of cuts. Earlier in April, Google shed hundreds of roles across Android, Pixel, and Chrome as part of a larger internal shift that moves resources into its AI operations.
The layoffs signal a deeper transformation inside Google, where teams that once shaped core products are being reshuffled—or reduced entirely—to make room for the company’s next chapter centered on AI.
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