Individuals fear that advances in AI will result in job losses, however not often does an organization’s CEO brazenly admit that AI will assist to cut back their headcount. Turnitin, a plagiarism detection firm whose CEO Chris Caren final yr warned that, in 18 months, his firm would have the ability to scale back 20% of its headcount because of AI, is right this moment confirming a small set of layoffs.
TechCrunch realized that Turnitin laid off round 15 folks earlier this yr, as a part of broader organizational modifications. Whereas that’s nowhere close to the 20% discount Caren had forecast — Turnitin has greater than 900 workers, per LinkedIn and PitchBook information — it’s a set of layoffs we’re notably excited about, given Caren’s earlier feedback.
Talking at an event in 2023, he famous that Turnitin had a number of hundred engineers, however he believed that in 18 months, “we’ll want 20% of these variety of folks,” referring to the engineering employees. “And we’ll have the ability to begin hiring numerous them out of highschool versus four-year faculties — most likely the identical for gross sales and advertising capabilities,” he added. His feedback have been made throughout a dialogue about how AI would influence the job market by rising efficiencies.
Turnitin’s software program leverages machine studying and AI to detect if a scholar’s writing is plagiarized. It sells to varsities, faculties, universities and different academic establishments and works with companions like Coursera, Blackboard and others.
Already, there are some indicators that AI is changing staff. Klarna just lately introduced that its AI Assistant can do the job of 700 workers, stunning the trade.
Turnitin confirmed its layoffs in an announcement to TechCrunch, however not the headcount:
After cautious consideration, late final yr, we communicated to our world crew our determination to make organizational modifications to evolve our enterprise technique, streamline processes, improve buyer focus and assist Turnitin’s continued progress. With gratitude for his or her contributions, Turnitin offered transitional assist to impacted crew members. Out of respect for his or her privateness, we decline to remark additional on this inside matter.
Sarah Perez is out there at sarahp@techcrunch.com or @sarahperez.01 on Sign.