Oracle, darling of the AI boom, is reportedly laying off around 10,000 people

Oracle has just let go of "some 10,000" people, according to one employee who recently spoke to the BBC.

There's been some speculation lately over whether the AI industry is showing the first creaky signs of struggle, and this isn't likely to help that. Especially as Oracle is spending big to keep up with datacenter demand. Though it's also suggested tech firms are hoping AI will make up for any loss of workforce.

Global software behemoth Oracle has been pumping money into AI over the last year for various projects, and has even said it's willing to look beyond Nvidia for the AI chips needed for its contracts. Those contracts including, for instance, the gigantic $300 billion that's earmarked for OpenAI.

But now, Oracle has been laying off "senior engineers, architects, operations leaders, program managers, and technical specialists", according to Michael Shepherd, Senior Operations Manager at Oracle.

"Today, Oracle conducted a significant reduction in force that impacted some of the most talented, dedicated, and high-performing people I’ve had the privilege of working alongside.

Let me be direct: this was not a performance action. The individuals affected were not let go because of anything they did or didn’t do."

This comes at a time when OpenAI has discontinued its Sora app and had Disney pull out of its $1 billion investment deal. These are both things that show signs the AI market could be straining in some capacity. And if not the market in general, then OpenAI. Though, to the contrary, OpenAI also today closed a funding round of $122 billion. So it's hardly struggling for cash or interested parties.

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