India, Sept. 17 -- More than 200 contract workers hired to train and refine Google's artificial intelligence systems have been laid off, raising questions about job security, working conditions, and the growing impact of automation on human roles.

According to Wired, the cuts were carried out in two rounds last month by GlobalLogic, a Hitachi-owned outsourcing firm that provides contractors for Google projects. Many of the affected workers, some holding advanced degrees, were part of a group known as "super raters." Their role involved fine-tuning chatbot responses, including those generated by Google's Gemini and the AI Overviews feature in Search, to ensure accuracy and a natural tone.

Several workers said they were blindsided by the ...