Google terminates over 200 AI contractors without notice

More than 200 contractors working on artificial intelligence (AI) products for Google have been abruptly terminated without prior notice. The employees had been responsible for evaluating and improving the tech giant’s AI systems, including its Gemini chatbot.

The sudden layoffs, according to affected workers, coincide with growing unrest over low wages, job insecurity, and a lack of institutional safeguards—issues that have reportedly damaged morale and undermined their ability to carry out their responsibilities effectively, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

In recent years, Google has increasingly outsourced its AI evaluation and moderation tasks to third-party firms. Among them is GlobalLogic, a company owned by Japan’s Hitachi, along with several other outsourcing vendors. Contractors in these roles were typically tasked with analyzing, editing, or refining the outputs generated by Google’s AI tools.

One of the dismissed workers, Andrew Lauzon, described the sudden nature of his termination:

"They just turned me off […] I asked the reason, and they replied, 'curtailing the project' — whatever that means," he told Wired.

Lauzon also pointed to a growing pattern of instability at GlobalLogic, claiming the company has routinely been laying off employees in 2025.

"How can we feel safe in this job if we know that we can be fired at any moment?" he added.

The dismissals come at a time when concerns are rising across the tech industry about the treatment of contract workers—particularly those involved in AI development. The outsourcing model, while cost-effective for large corporations, has drawn criticism for offering little in the way of job protections or long-term employment prospects.

In a related development, it was reported on August 28 that Microsoft terminated two employees following their participation in protests against the company's collaboration with Israel. The individuals were reportedly dismissed for what Microsoft described as serious breaches of company policy and its code of conduct, allegedly involving “hacking into management offices.”

By Vafa Guliyeva