Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention. This week:
- Microsoft reports that AI is not destroying jobs, but then lays off a load of developers
- Google aligns with the EU’s AI Act framework. Meta still refuses
- Why European startups need to think big when it comes to messaging
The last month has seen a lot of media focus on jobs in AI. Yet while last week the news was about huge salaries being offered to A list coders, this week’s update is slightly more sobering as the FT reports that AI-related cuts are accelerating in big tech.
It says that companies are preparing for a time where there might be less work for their employees altogether, and that leaner, more agile teams are now seen as the route to bigger profits.
“Even as business leaders claim AI is “redesigning” jobs rather than cutting them, the headlines tell another story”, the FT declares.
“It is not just Microsoft but Intel and BT that are among a host of major companies announcing thousands of layoffs explicitly linked to AI. Previously when job cuts were announced, there was a sense that these were regrettable choices. Now executives consider them a sign of progress. Companies are pursuing greater profits with fewer people.”
The FT suggests that younger workers are bearing the brunt of the re-organisation. “Entire rungs on the career ladder are taking a hit, undermining traditional job pathways. This is not only about AI of course. Offshoring, post-Covid budget discipline, and years of underwhelming growth have made entry-level hiring an easy thing to cut. But AI is adding to the pressure.”
It is a story that resonates across Europe. L’Opinion in France also reports how generative AI is eroding job opportunities for newly graduated professionals by automating many of the junior and support roles they traditionally occupy. Reports suggest major firms, including accounting and consulting offices, have significantly lowered entry-level hiring—some by as much as 50%—undermining a labour market already fragile for young job seekers.
Even if Microsoft is rationalising its workforces, it does not believe that AI is having the same impact globally. In the Netherlands Hardware Info reports that the company has analysed over 200,000 Copilot interactions and found that generative AI is primarily used to assist—not replace—knowledge workers. It says this very much the case in tasks like translation, legal support, and information retrieval. Despite recent layoffs at the company, the study concludes that AI cannot yet take over entire roles and currently offers limited value for physical labour jobs.
To follow or not to follow?
After a slew of negative statements about the legislation, Google has finally confirmed it will sign the European Union’s newly released voluntary Code of Practice for general‑purpose AI, aligning with the EU’s AI Act framework.
It is not 100 percent happy however, and France 24 reports that the company was “expressing concerns that some provisions could slow innovation or conflict with EU copyright and trade‑secret protections.”
Meta, however, is sticking to its guns and not signing. Its Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan argues the Code introduces legal uncertainties, exceeds the legal scope of the AI Act, and risks hindering development of advanced AI in Europe.
Google may be heading for a showdown in the UK about AI overviews
There has been more analysis this week of the impact that Google’s AI Overviews is having on media consumption. A story in Press Gazette highlights analysis by SEO and AI platform Authoritas which shows that when Google’s AI Overviews appear in search results, click‑through rates for UK publishers drop by 47.5 % on desktop and 37.7 % on mobile. The research is based on keywords tied to mainstream news between 16–22 April 2025.
The findings have been submitted to the UK Competition and Markets Authority as part of a formal complaint, amid publisher concerns that Google’s AI-generated summaries undermine referral traffic and visibility—despite Google’s claim that such tools increase discovery and generate “valuable” clicks
Also, in the UK a techUK‑commissioned report warns that the country could lose out on billions in AI investments unless it accelerates planning reforms and energy infrastructure upgrades to scale data centre development. CityAM reports that despite a £2 billion government commitment and notable private investments—including supercomputers and AI Growth Zones—grid bottlenecks, high energy prices, and planning delays threaten to derail the UK’s ambition to secure sovereign AI infrastructure and remain competitive globally.
This week also saw a warning from Wang Jian, founder of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group who predicts that nearly 90% of existing AI technologies are likely to become obsolete as rapid advances reshape the landscape—driven especially by innovation from young teams solving complex problems. ZDNet France reports that Alibaba Cloud introduced “ZEROSEARCH,” a new technique that can reduce AI training costs by almost 90% by mimicking search behaviour without actual API calls, alongside enhanced proprietary LLMs like Qwen‑Max and global AI infrastructure upgrades.
European startups not telling inspiring stories
There is an interesting POV in Sifted this week which claims that while European startups have great technology and bulletproof business plans, when it comes to storytelling they lag significantly behind their Silicon Valley rivals.
Journalist Steph Bailey says, “spend five minutes with a Silicon Valley founder, and you will hear how their API is going to “change the world,” make a trillion dollars and put Google out of business. Spend the same time in Berlin or Stockholm, and instead of a bold origin story or world-changing vision, you will get a structured roadmap, cautious forecasts, and a GDPR checklist.
Is this lack of ambition? No. Too heavy a dose of self-awareness? Possibly. An inability to spin a good yarn? Absolutely. When it comes to storytelling — the ability to craft bold narratives that sell a vision bigger than a product or service — Europe still lags behind. While American startups launch with stories that take off like rockets, European ones often treat storytelling more like a pitch deck appendix.”
Storytelling and messaging are so important. If you cannot explain why your startup matters in a way that excites and inspires potential investors, how can you expect to scale? European companies can learn from the way that US companies articulate their ambition.
About the author
Bastian Meger is Director at Tyto. He helps our clients create exciting communication opportunities that are relevant to journalists and their readers.