Dropbox is changing its working atmosphere by shifting its future investments to artificial intelligence. As a result of this — or the delicate economic scenario, as stated by the company — Dropbox will lay off about 500 employees — which represents around 16% of its entire workforce.
The news was given by the company’s CEO, Drew Houston, in a post on the official Dropbox blog. “First, I want to acknowledge the impact this decision has on affected Dropboxers and their families, and I fully own this decision and the path it has brought us here,” Houston wrote.
Throughout the text, the CEO says that Dropbox will consolidate its core and document workflow businesses, in addition to making adjustments to its product development teams. In addition, Houston was keen to highlight that the platform is still profitable, despite the economic difficulties, and that the changes are also aimed at the company’s future.
I am determined to ensure that Dropbox is at the forefront of the AI era, just as we were at the forefront of the shift to mobile and the cloud. We’re going to need all hands on deck as machine intelligence gives us the tools to reimagine our existing businesses and invent new ones.
Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox
- Houston’s interest in AI on the platform is not new. In 2018, he wrote a letter in which he argued that “machine intelligence” could allow Dropbox to better understand and serve its customers;
- As proof of this, the platform has received some AI features over the years, such as automatic text recognition, awarded in 2018;
- The decision to lay off part of the workforce and invest in artificial resources directs the company’s focus towards an experimental and new future bias for the company.
Dismissed employees will be required to count on minimum assistance of 16 weeks of pay and up to six months of medical assistance. In addition, the company will also allow them to continue using the company’s devices for personal use and will receive career training and outplacement support.
With information from The Verge
