Why Meta Is Cutting, Google Is Changing Search, and Students Are Criticizing AI

The Uncanny Valley podcast (WIRED) broke down three major tech events of the week: Meta's crisis, a radical overhaul of Google Search, and a wave of AI criticism that has reached university graduates.

Meta in Survival Mode

Meta is experiencing one of the most difficult periods in its history. The company announced mass layoffs—the second wave of cuts in recent months. This has sparked alarm among both remaining employees and investors. Mark Zuckerberg is restructuring the company under the banner of "Year of Efficiency"—a shift toward a more streamlined development model. This means: fewer experiments, closure of R&D projects, and strict focus only on products generating revenue now.

The paradox is that Meta is investing tens of billions in AI (the main R&D priority today), but simultaneously cutting the people who develop that AI. This is no longer strategy—it's panic.

Google Search Undergoes Reincarnation

At the Google I/O conference, the company unveiled a radical overhaul of search. Results are no longer just a list of links. Front and center is a generative answer that directly addresses the user's question within Google's interface.

This dismantles the traditional internet business model:

• Users get answers without visiting external sites
• Publishers lose traffic, Google captures all monetization
• SEO optimization becomes meaningless, a new strategy is needed
• The company is pouring billions into infrastructure for generating answers at scale

For media, this is potential destruction. For Google, it's a desperate attempt to retain users and not lose search to a new generation of AI assistants like ChatGPT.

AI—From Dream to Protest

University graduates have begun protesting during presentations by AI company representatives. The younger generation isn't criticizing the tool itself, but its consequences:

• Economic inequality: profits concentrate in the hands of a few companies
• Environmental crisis: data centers require massive amounts of electricity
• Copyright violations: models are trained on others' texts and art without permission

"AI was embraced enthusiastically by the investor class, but society's reaction is entirely different," the podcast notes.

This is ceasing to be mere annoyance. It's becoming a political movement capable of forcing regulators to reconsider the rules.

What It Means

These three stories point to one trend: the era of unbridled growth is ending. Meta is shifting into strict profitability mode, Google is capturing all search traffic through AI, and AI itself is ceasing to be perceived as mere magical technology—it's becoming subject to social and political pressure.

This is not the collapse of the industry. It's its maturation.

*Meta has been designated an extremist organization and banned in Russia.