After Recent Intuit Layoffs, CEO Hints at Steering Toward AI for Marketing
Receiving a layoff email is an immediate gut punch. In 2024, over 1,800 employees at Intuit, including marketers and creatives, received the kiss of death. After announcing one of the most significant layoffs of the year, the CEO of IT company Intuit sent out an open letter shining lights on wildly evolving tech advancements, including AI in marketing.
Sasan Goodarzi, CEO, revealed that his hiring decisions are based on wildly new and changing factors, including the emergence of GenAI, and language learning models (LLM). His, and Intuit’s, commitment to AI drives layoffs to fuel reskilling, upskilling, and mass hiring for AI and ML initiatives.
The future of marketing lies in AI
Ads jumping from billboard to video digital experiences are now hopping to generative AI creation — marketing is in constant state of evolution. And, if you are not ready to adapt, you might find yourself left behind—or worse, laid off.
Goodarzi’s letter captures this sentiment perfectly, focusing on the keyword AI. He wrote that the era of AI is one of the most significant technological shifts of our lifetime. Whether Intuit’s recent layoff was to eliminate ‘low performers’ or not, the line indicated that AI was the sole reason behind the colossal layoff.
His writing about the downfall of companies, if they don’t prepare to take advantage of this AI revolution exhibited the deep fear of employers and employees. At the same time, he made sure not to sound more livid to his readers through his procrastination; he wrote something along the lines of investment in AI and fueling the success of essential partners like marketing agencies (though he listed a few more departments, we will stick to marketing).
Goodarzi penned his ambition in words, writing, “We do not do layoffs to cut costs, which remains true in this case. We will reinvest in the necessary skills and capabilities to support these areas, and, as such, we will hire approximately 1,800 new people, primarily in engineering, product, and customer-facing roles such as sales, customer success, and marketing.”
The whole point of the layoff was to reinvest, upskill, and enhance the workforce and departments such as marketing. CEO hinted at hiring 1,800 new staff for marketing, sales, etc. Regardless of layoffs or writing open letters, 60% of marketers are already integrating AI and automating various areas of marketing beyond generating images and copy.
Adapt to technology to stay ahead in time and stay out of layoffs
Everyone’s afraid that AI is here to push humans out of the workforce, but the reality is more complicated. If you are a content writer, graphic designer, or other creative – prepare to integrate AI into your process.
Apart from learning and upskilling, creatives need to run side-by-side with new tech advancements. When computers and digital media started covering the cubicles, there was the same reaction from these big companies. Learn and adapt, or die. (Not die, but be replaced.)
AI is still evolving and will continue to grow in breadth and application. Yes, to your industry. Yes, in your job. Understanding the fundamentals of LLMs and learning suitable and precise prompts with domain skills could be a good start for marketers.
Not just machines, marketing and creative professionals have been learning new skills forever. This is a never-ending story, first with the internet, then social media platforms, digital marketing, CGI, AR, and now prompts.
Cut to the chase
Intuit’s CEO recently penned an open letter to current and former employees following the company’s layoffs announced in July. While the letter was meant to convey a message of empathy, there was a subtle yet clear hint between the lines: a renewed focus on reinvesting in AI and marketing.
