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SAP to Restructure 8,000 Jobs in Push towards AI, Shares Hit Record

The logo of SAP is seen on their offices in Reston, Virginia, U.S., May 12, 2021. Picture taken May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
The logo of SAP is seen on their offices in Reston, Virginia, U.S., May 12, 2021. Picture taken May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
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SAP to Restructure 8,000 Jobs in Push towards AI, Shares Hit Record

The logo of SAP is seen on their offices in Reston, Virginia, U.S., May 12, 2021. Picture taken May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
The logo of SAP is seen on their offices in Reston, Virginia, U.S., May 12, 2021. Picture taken May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

Shares of SAP SE jumped 7% to an all-time high after the German software firm forecast growth in cloud revenue and said it will restructure roles for 8,000 jobs to focus on growth in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven business areas.
The company said it will spend 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) on the program to either retrain employees with AI skills or to replace them through voluntary redundancy programs.
SAP, which expects to end 2024 with a headcount similar to current levels, started experimenting with OpenAI's ChatGPT as soon as the generative AI technology started gaining traction and announced plans to embed it in its products early last year, Reuters said.
The German company now expects GenAI to fundamentally change its business and has pledged to invest more than $1 billion by backing AI-powered technology startups through its investment arm Sapphire Ventures.
"The right adjustments are being made and the company is being reorganized to prepare it for the age of artificial intelligence," said investment strategist Jürgen Molnar at brokerage RoboMarkets.
"Even if some employees are likely to fall by the wayside, HR policy is less of a cost issue and more of a strategic one, in which many new opportunities are also likely to arise," he said.
Tech companies including global giants such as Google and Microsoft have embarked on a wave of layoffs in recent months as they look to shift their focus to artificial intelligence software and automation to lighten workloads.
Most of the restructuring costs would be in the first half of the year, and contribute 500 million euros to operating profit in 2025 due to efficiency improvements.
STRONG OUTLOOK
The business software maker, separately on Tuesday, forecast double-digit percentage growth in revenue from its key cloud business and overall operating profit for the current year after those 2023 figures met or exceeded analyst consensus.
Cloud revenue is expected to increase 24%-27% in 2024, SAP said, after reporting 23% growth, adjusted for currency effects, to 13.66 billion euros in 2023, in line with consensus.
Operating profit rose a currency-adjusted 13% last year, to 8.7 billion euros, beating predictions by analysts commissioned by the company of an increase of 9%. For 2024, SAP expects that figure to grow between 17% and 21%.
"We kept our promise and achieved double-digit non-IFRS operating profit growth despite an adverse macro environment," said SAP Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam, who said he intends to further increase profitability in the current year.
The company separately adjusted its medium-term outlook on Tuesday to take into account a change in accounting practices, lowering its 2025 operating profit target to 10 billion euros from about 11.5 billion euros previously.

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Rise in 'Harmful Content' Since Meta Policy Rollbacks, Survey Shows

The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Rise in 'Harmful Content' Since Meta Policy Rollbacks, Survey Shows

The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Harmful content including hate speech has surged across Meta's platforms since the company ended third-party fact-checking in the United States and eased moderation policies, a survey showed Monday.

The survey of around 7,000 active users on Instagram, Facebook and Threads comes after the Palo Alto company ditched US fact-checkers in January and turned over the task of debunking falsehoods to ordinary users under a model known as "Community Notes," popularized by X.

The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease President Donald Trump's new administration, whose conservative support base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms was a way to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.

Meta also rolled back restrictions around topics such as gender and sexual identity. The tech giant's updated community guidelines said its platforms would permit users to accuse people of "mental illness" or "abnormality" based on their gender or sexual orientation.

"These policy shifts signified a dramatic reversal of content moderation standards the company had built over nearly a decade," said the survey published by digital and human rights groups including UltraViolet, GLAAD, and All Out.

"Among our survey population of approximately 7,000 active users, we found stark evidence of increased harmful content, decreased freedom of expression, and increased self-censorship".

One in six respondents in the survey reported being the victim of some form of gender-based or sexual violence on Meta platforms, while 66 percent said they had witnessed harmful content such as hateful or violent material.

Ninety-two percent of surveyed users said they were concerned about increasing harmful content and felt "less protected from being exposed to or targeted by" such material on Meta's platforms.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents described feeling "less safe" expressing themselves freely.

The company declined to comment on the survey.

In its most recent quarterly report, published in May, Meta insisted that the changes in January had left a minimal impact.

"Following the changes announced in January we've cut enforcement mistakes in the US in half, while during that same time period the low prevalence of violating content on the platform remained largely unchanged for most problem areas," the report said.

But the groups behind the survey insisted that the report did not reflect users' experiences of targeted hate and harassment.

"Social media is not just a place we 'go' anymore. It's a place we live, work, and play. That's why it's more crucial than ever to ensure that all people can safely access these spaces and freely express themselves without fear of retribution," Jenna Sherman, campaign director at UltraViolet, told AFP.

"But after helping to set a standard for content moderation online for nearly a decade, (chief executive) Mark Zuckerberg decided to move his company backwards, abandoning vulnerable users in the process.

"Facebook and Instagram already had an equity problem. Now, it's out of control," Sherman added.

The groups implored Meta to hire an independent third party to "formally analyze changes in harmful content facilitated by the policy changes" made in January, and for the tech giant to swiftly reinstate the content moderation standards that were in place earlier.

The International Fact-Checking Network has previously warned of devastating consequences if Meta broadens its policy shift related to fact-checkers beyond US borders to the company's programs covering more than 100 countries.

AFP currently works in 26 languages with Meta's fact-checking program, including in Asia, Latin America, and the European Union.