German newspaper giant denies reports of replacing editors with AI

June 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Artificial intelligence will soon make its appearance in one of Europe’s best-selling tabloid newspapers, but only to support journalistic work, not replace it.

Disclaimer: This article has been updated to reflect a comment from a Bild Group spokesperson regarding the reason for the job cuts and where it sees AI's role in the company.

German tabloid company Bild has denied reports it is laying off parts of its editorial team and replacing staffers with artificial intelligence and “automated processes.”

The Guardian and other media outlets reported on June 21 that Bild’s parent publishing firm, Axel Springer SE, was planning to replace a range of editorial jobs with AI, citing an internal email.

*Screenshot of one of the headlines. Source: Sydney Morning Herald*

However, Bild Group’s director of communications, Christian Senft, told Cointelegraph that the “reports are false” and that “with our current measures, we have no intention of replacing journalism with AI."

Instead, Senft said the announcement was regarding a restructuring program for regional newspaper editions, which involves reducing from 18 regional editions to 12 by the end of the year, and the closing of 10 out of 15 regional offices, with many functions moving centrally to Berlin.

BILD-Gruppe formiert Managementteam für digitale Transformation https://t.co/FIeEu74KE8 pic.twitter.com/FFTMR3bRuE
— Axel Springer SE (@axelspringer) June 19, 2023

“Therefore, these tasks such as secretariats and photo production are no longer necessary in the regions,” he said, reiterating that the associated job reductions have nothing to do with AI.

Senft confirmed that the moves will affect employees in the “low three-digit number.” He also clarified that the announcement states that the company will “increasingly use AI to support journalistic work.”

“To this end, we are approaching the topic with an open mind and currently have many initiatives with which we are exploring areas of application for AI for our journalistic brands, both in the production processes of the editorial offices and in relation to the reader experience,” he added.

“The use of AI creates more time and space for journalistic creativity for editors and reporters. Wherever AI supports, a journalist always has to check and double-check the result at Axel Springer.”

The daily tabloid was founded in June 1952. In the 1980s, Bild reportedly sold more than five million copies per day. By 2010, Bild’s circulation had fallen to 3.55 million, according to Mondo Times. As of 2022, the print newspaper only had a circulation of just over 1 million, according to Media Impact.

The rapid development of AI has nevertheless sparked concerns over job losses in the future.

In May, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told Bloomberg that 7,800 jobs at the firm could be replaced by AI and automation over the next five years, representing approximately 30% of its workforce.

IBM expects to pause hiring for roles as roughly 7,800 jobs could be replaced by #AI.

Back-office functions such as human resources will be suspended or slowed.

30% of non-customer-facing roles could be replaced by AI and automations in 5 years.

Universities, Schools, HR… pic.twitter.com/OkyHMwhqQD
— Brian Solis (@briansolis) May 2, 2023

In a June 14 report, management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. predicted that generative AI may be able to fully automate as much as 50% of all work activity conducted in workplaces today, including tasks related to decision-making, management, and interfacing with stakeholders.

AI Eye: Is AI a nuke-level threat? Why AI fields all advance at once, dumb pic puns

Update (June 21, 6:39 am UTC): This article has been updated to include information given by a Bild Group spokesperson.

Crypto layoffs decelerate, with layoffs falling to 570 in February

March 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The number is a stark contrast to over 2,900 employees from the crypto industry let go in January.

Crypto industry layoffs appear to have slowed down significantly over the past month with an estimated 570 crypto employees dismissed in February, down from an estimated 2,850 in January.

Cointelegraph compiled the figures based on publicly reported layoffs and found job cuts were spread across at least 12 companies over the 28-day period, but noticeably lacked the triple-digit crypto exchange layoffs compiled in January, such as those from Coinbase, Crypto.com and Huobi.

Instead, staff cuts came in the double-digits for the most part — impacting blockchain analytics firms, blockchain and software development firms, and digital asset platforms among others.

The most recent layoffs came from crypto analytics firms Elliptic and Messari, which cut 10% and 15% of staff, respectively.

Messari founder, Ryan Selkis, tweeted on Feb. 23 that the staff cuts were due to “market headwinds” and a restructuring of their internal teams. It is estimated to have impacted around 27 employees.

1/ Yesterday we made the difficult decision to restructure several of Messari’s internal teams, leading to a 15% staff reduction.

We're grateful for the contributions of the teammates we have parted ways with, and will provide resources and connections to help them transition.
— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) February 23, 2023

Meanwhile, an Elliptic spokesperson told DLNews on Feb. 24 that the decision to lay off 20 employees was a move to tamp down operating expenses.

It follows news from earlier in the month, when Chainalysis, another blockchain analytics company, revealed it had laid off 44 of its 900 employees, representing 4.8% of its workforce “primarily in sales.”

Neil Dundon, an Australia-based crypto recruiter told Cointelegraph “the spike in layoffs is a macro event not just in Web3 but tech in general fueled by fears of an extended recession.”

*Tech layoffs between January 2022 to February 2023. Source: Layoffs.fyi*

Data from layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi revealed there was a total of 24,572 employees laid off across 129 tech companies in February, down from 84,414 across 268 tech companies in January.

“Web3 is always going to be hit to a harder degree at least until Bitcoin decouples from the stock market. There may also be some fears of tougher regulations in web3 adding to the spike. But as always crypto is resilient.”

On the higher end of layoffs in the month, nonfungible token (NFT) company Dapper Labs and Ethereum-scaling platform Polygon Labs both dismissed around 20% of staff as a result of internal restructuring.

A big part of this strategy includes unifying all of our teams under Polygon Labs to drive more growth.

As part of this consolidation process, we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by 20% impacting multiple teams and about 100 positions.
— Sandeep | Polygon Top 3 by impact (@sandeepnailwal) February 21, 2023

In a Feb. 21 Twitter post, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal explained the move was a result of unifying all its internal teams under Polygon Labs, leading to 100 jobs being cut.

On Feb. 23, Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou confirmed another round of layoffs at his company following a first wave in November, noting it was part of restructuring “to improve our focus and efficiency.”

Immutable, the Australian firm behind another Ethereum layer-2 blockchain protocol, also reportedly cut staff during the month, reducing headcount by 11%.

Other firms to announce headcount reductions included crypto exchange Bittrex, NFT marketplace Magic Eden, institutional crypto custodian Fireblocks, software firm Protocol Labs and crypto media company The Block.

Payments company Affirm announced it was sunsetting its crypto program during the month amid a 19% staff cut, though it is not known how many employees from its crypto unit were dismissed as a result.

Kevin Gibson, founder of blockchain recruitment firm Proof of Search agreed that the pace of layoffs appears to have slowed compared to January.

“Jan was big as it followed boards [and venture capital] looking [at] 2022 results and preparing for the worst,” he said. “We have seen less laid-off candidates this month.”

“Companies are still building great products and the current teams are really stretched so more layoffs would be cutting into muscle right now for many companies.”

Gibson however warns that the United States securities regulator could still “bring about more pain,” while continued press coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapse “is having an effect on the public perception of the sector and mainstream adoption.”

Protocol Labs, Chainalysis and Bittrex add to crypto layoff season

February 4, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bittrex

Crypto execs suggested that the "extremely challenging" times forced them to cut jobs in order to “weather this extended" crypto winter.

Several crypto firms have made job cuts this week amid the ongoing crypto winter, retaining “impactful” employees as they prepare for a “longer downturn.”

At least 216 jobs were slashed between three crypto firms – open-source software laboratory Protocol Labs, blockchain data firm Chainalysis and U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, with reductions of 89, 83 and 44 employees respectively.

Juan Benet, CEO of Protocol Labs, the parent company of Filecoin (FIL), announced the job cuts in a blog post on Feb. 3 stating that the company has had to focus its headcount “against the most impactful and business critical efforts.”

He stated that the company's decision to cut “89 roles,” approximately 21% of its workforce, was to ensure it is well positioned to “weather this extended winter.”

Benet suggested that the company must “prepare for a longer downturn,” given it has been an “extremely challenging” time for the crypto industry.

Meanwhile Bittrex employees were informed by CEO Richie Lai over email on Feb. 1 that the company has made a reduction to its workforce to “ensure the long-term viability" of the company.

The email was leaked via Twitter on Feb. 2, in which Lai stated that despite the leadership team “working aggressively” to reduce expenses and increase efficiencies over the last several months, the efforts have not produced the "results necessary."

Lai added that the market conditions have forced the company to reset their strategy and balance its “investments with the new economic environment.”

According to Washington State employment data on Feb. 2 it was revealed that Bittrex cut 83 jobs.

Maddie Kennedy, director of communications at Chainalysis, told Forbes on Feb. 1 that those “primarily in sales” at the company were let go, as 44 of its 900 employees, approximately 4.8% of the workforce, were slashed.

These layoffs come after news that at least 2,900 staff were cut across 14 crypto firms in January.

Coinbase had the largest layoffs amongst those firms, cutting 950 of its staff on Jan. 10.

Meanwhile competitor exchanges Crypto.com, Luno and Huobi had reductions of approximately 500, 330 and 320 staff respectively.

Cointelegraph reached out for comment from Protocol Labs, Chainalysis and Bittrex but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Crypto firms cut nearly 3,000 jobs in January despite Bitcoin’s rise

January 31, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bear Market

It was a tough month for crypto employees with at least 14 firms announcing staff reductions in January.

Crypto companies tightened their purse strings in the first month of 2023, with at least 2,900 crypto staff cut loose across 14 crypto firms in January.

The latest firm to reportedly initiate a layoff is the crypto infrastructure provider Prime Trust which reduced its employee count by a third according to reports.

The reduction would equate to an estimated 100 or so staff cut as Prime had 312 employees on LinkedIn at the time of writing.

Other recent cuts over the last few days include 30 staff from the crypto platform Matrixport being let go according to a Jan. 27 Bloomberg report, while an earlier Jan. 23 report from The Information said roughly 100 staff were laid off from the crypto exchange Gemini.

The largest staff layoff for the month of January was initiated by crypto exchange Coinbase which reduced its headcount by around 950 employees on Jan. 10.

Its peer exchanges Crypto.com, Luno and Huobi trailed with reductions of around 500, 330 and 320 employees respectively.

Embattled crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its subsidiaries similarly saw significant layoffs with 485 workers sacked in January alone as the firm navigates a financial crisis.

The DCG-owned Luno saw the most layoffs, while DCG itself slashed 66 employees, its subsidiary lending platform Genesis cut 63 jobs and its asset management firm HQ Digital shuttered affecting 26 jobs.

Rounding off the list were the 200 members of staff let go by crypto bank Silvergate, the 110 employees cut from the Blockchain.com exchange and the 96 staff terminated from MetaMask’s parent company ConsenSys.

Meanwhile, 20 staff members were let go from the nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace SuperRare.

These staff cuts came despite Bitcoin (BTC) performing strongly in the month, targeting nearly $25,000 as institutional demand has continued to increase.

However, the large-scale crypto industry layoffs were not in isolation. Around 48,000 people in January alone were let go from just four companies: Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce.

While some may believe there's more gloom ahead, crypto hedge fund Pantera Capital believes there’s never been a better time to start a blockchain company claiming bear markets provide “less noise and distraction from building.”

FTX collapse could see crypto sector layoffs accelerate

November 15, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Blockfi

While the full impact of FTX’s collapse is still unfolding, some have already warned of an increase in layoffs to come “in the months to follow.”

The fall of crypto exchange FTX and potential resulting contagion could lead to an acceleration of crypto-company layoffs in the coming months, recruitment specialists warn.

A Nov. 14 report from crypto data aggregator platform CoinGecko found that as of Nov. 13, the crypto space has seen 4,695 employees let go in 2022 so far, presenting 4% of staff cuts across all “technology startups.”

However, the authors of the report warn that crypto layoffs could increase in the coming months when the “full impact” of FTX’s sudden collapse takes effect:

“With the collapse of FTX since November 2 and its full impact on the cryptocurrency space still unfolding, further cryptocurrency layoffs may occur in the months to follow.”

Speaking to Cointelegraph, CryptoRecruit founder Neil Dundon argues that while FTX’s events will cause some layoffs, it hasn’t changed the broader trend that crypto recruitment follows crypto prices.

“Layoffs have been consistent effectively following the same trend as crypto prices. FTX hasn’t changed that broader trend albeit a tragic event,” he said, adding:

“There will be layoffs because of it but that will present opportunities for good projects to scoop up good talent which we are collecting.”

Kevin Gibson, the founder of recruitment firm Proof of Search was less optimistic, sharing that he had one candidate that was due to start employment today but had his offer “pulled” during the first call with the company.

Gibson said it was hard to comment on how the FTX collapse will shake out as it’s “changing daily” but said his candidate’s experience “will not be an isolated incident.”

Companies across the crypto sector have already undergone a number of layoffs throughout the year as a result of the market downturn.

Among the most recent staff cuts in the industry include payment processor Stripe’s layoff of 1,000 employees, Flow blockchain developer Dapper Lab’s 22% cut, and venture capital firm Digital Currency Group’s 10% layoff. All layoffs took effect in early November.

Digital asset-focused investment firm Galaxy Digital was also reported to be eyeing off a 20% cut on Nov. 1.

Coinbase is understood to have cut another 60 staff on Nov. 10, according to Yahoo Finance.

The latest CoinGecko report follows an earlier Nov. 4 report which looked into the cities most impacted by cryptocurrency layoffs.

At the top of the list was San Francisco — home to Silicon Valley, one of the world’s largest technology and innovation hubs — which was followed by Dubai, New York City and Singapore.

Life after crypto biz: Retrenched staff ponder future in the job market

July 20, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Workers weigh up their futures in the cryptocurrency economy as tough market conditions lead to more staff cuts at prominent firms.

Bleak market prospects continue to afflict the cryptocurrency ecosystem as prominent firms face the tough reality of reducing their workforce to ensure their long-term viability.

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has established itself as an industry leader in its category. Still, its own success has not been enough to weather the potential length of the so-called crypto-winter.

The company announced that it would reduce its employee numbers by 20% in July to ensure the long-term viability of the business. OpenSea co-founder Devin Finzer shared a Slack message sent to the company outlining the reasoning for the retrenchment move on Twitter on July 14:

Today is a hard day for OpenSea, as we’re letting go of ~20% of our team. Here’s the note I shared with our team earlier this morning: pic.twitter.com/E5k6gIegH7
— Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) July 14, 2022

Finzer promised to give outgoing staff a ‘generous’ severance package and healthcare coverage into 2023, as well as accelerate equity vesting periods for employees eligible.

The co-founder noted that despite having built a strong balance sheet through fundraising and a proven ‘product-market fit,’ OpenSea had to reduce its workforce to ensure a financial runway for a five-year crypto winter scenario.

A handful of OpenSea employees took to social media platforms with posts indicating their severance from the company. One employee was ‘shocked and still processing’ the news while taking a positive attitude:

I was apart of the layoffs.
I’m shocked and still processing tbh.
Can’t take it personal.
Must move forward and keep building.
Thanks @opensea for the opportunity https://t.co/e4WseqeavR
— Allen (@allencito) July 14, 2022

Kristyana Kern, a recruiter working for OpenSea, confirmed her departure from the company in a LinkedIn post that was also shared on Twitter:

“In my short time there, I hired 10 people with 100% offer acceptance, helped build out recruiting operations and really dug into Web3. I worked with incredible people and am so grateful for my time there but am ready for my next adventure."

So sad to share that I was impacted by layoffs at OpenSea. I worked with incredible people and am so grateful for my time there.

That being said - I don’t want this to end my time in Web3 so if anyone is hiring Recruiters please reach out ❤️
— Kristyana (@kristyanakayy) July 14, 2022

Cointelegraph spoke to another former OpenSea employee that admitted being caught off-guard by the announcement. The individual, speaking on condition of anonymity, had been employed in the cryptocurrency industry for around a year and wanted to continue working in the Web3 space.

These posts garnered plenty of interest, with colleagues and acquaintances offering assistance to help place the outgoing OpenSea employees. Some projects like DAO payroll and finance platform Utopia Labs called for engineers to explore new openings at the firm:

If you were affected by the @opensea layoffs we’re hiring @utopialabs_ and would love to chat

We’re working on some deep technical problems at the intersection of compensation, compliance, and coordination for DAOs, and are expanding out our rockstar eng team https://t.co/0ONJM9M8QZ
— imhiringengineers.eth (@pryceandstuff) July 14, 2022

OpenSea becomes the largest NFT-focused company to be forced to cut staff alongside significant firms in other corners of the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. June 2022 saw the likes of major exchanges Gemini, Coinbase and Crypto.com announcing retrenchments.

Cryptocurrency, blockchain and Web3 job portal Crypto Jobs List estimates that 3500 jobs were cut by the three major exchanges. At the same time, the service noted a 20% drop in the total volume of companies and jobs being advertised since May.

While other companies streamline their teams, the likes of Binance, Kraken and OKEx are hiring for over 2000 positions collectively. Crypto Jobs List also estimates that another 1000 jobs are set to be created by a plethora of cryptocurrency and nonfungible token (NFT) startups.

Nonetheless the search volume for “remote crypto jobs” been the highest ever in the last 5 years pic.twitter.com/OyAVZVbkho
— Crypto Jobs List — Solidity NFT DeFi Web3 Jobs (@CryptoJobsList) July 7, 2022

Cryptocurrency Jobs, another careers portal platform, also noted an increase in the number of companies requesting human resource assistance. Daniel Adler, the founder of Cryptocurrency Jobs, told Cointelegraph that he'd worked with 40 different companies across the cryptocurrency ecosystem since markets turned sour in 2022:

Some teams have implemented hiring freezes, others are restructuring and looking into their hiring needs for the year, and for some, it's business as usual. For many teams, the bear market is a great time to do meaningful and strategic hires."

Cointelegraph has reached out to a number of individuals affected by staff cuts in the cryptocurrency industry. If you have recently lost your job or have been affected by prevailing market conditions and would like to share your experience/views - send an email to gareth@cointelegraph.com.

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