October 4, 2025 · 24-Hour AI Briefing: Google Cuts UX Roles to Focus on AI, Sora Tops App Store, Meta Bets on Vercel + GitHub
In the past 24 hours, the AI world has seen new waves: Google trims design-related roles in its cloud division to double down on AI infrastructure, OpenAI’s video app Sora surges to the top of the App Store within a week, and Meta speeds up its AI prototyping by leaning on external developer platforms.
Google Cloud Layoffs to Sharpen AI Focus
Google has laid off over 100 employees in its cloud division, including staff in the Quantitative User Experience Research team and the Platform & Services Experience team. The cuts are part of a broader cost-saving move and reflect Google’s increased emphasis on AI infrastructure.
Commentary: Google Cloud is clearly reallocating resources toward AI systems while reducing investment in UX research roles. By trimming non-core design positions, Google may be betting on AI to automatically analyze behavioral logs and generate optimization insights — reducing reliance on specialized UX staff. But a pressing question remains: can today’s AI truly replace this kind of deep research work?
Sora Climbs to No. 1 on the App Store
OpenAI’s standalone video app Sora — currently invite-only in the U.S. and Canada — has already hit the top of the App Store’s free app charts within its first week, surpassing both ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
Commentary: On day one, Sora logged 56,000 downloads, and within 48 hours, that number had climbed to 164,000. Neither invite restrictions nor regional limits slowed user enthusiasm. Yet this raises new challenges: will AI-generated short videos flood platforms with low-quality content? And with TikTok watching closely, how will it respond to OpenAI’s entry into the short-video battlefield?
Meta Turns to Vercel and GitHub to Accelerate R&D
Meta Platforms is shifting part of its AI prototyping to external platforms like Vercel and GitHub to speed up development under its new Meta Superintelligence Lab. At least 10 projects are now running on these platforms, cutting deployment time from 99 minutes to under 2 minutes.
Commentary: Meta, long reliant on internal tools, is now embracing Vercel and Microsoft-owned GitHub. The real play is clear: use standardized DevOps pipelines to maximize iteration speed. Vercel’s edge deployment and GitHub’s collaborative ecosystem fit neatly with Meta’s open-source Llama framework. But strategically, this also strengthens Microsoft’s role in AI infrastructure — a side effect that can’t be ignored.
Final Thoughts
From Google’s cost-cutting and AI prioritization, to Sora’s meteoric rise, and Meta’s embrace of external platforms, the AI landscape continues to evolve rapidly. The race isn’t just about building bigger models or better products — it’s about who can iterate and deploy faster.
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