More companies are pointing to AI as they lay off employees

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When Pinterest and Dow announced layoffs past month, they attributed the occupation cuts successful portion to a displacement to artificial quality — a motion that immoderate employers are stepping up their concern successful AI arsenic they pare their payrolls.

Although economists person mostly downplayed the interaction to day of generative AI connected the broader U.S. workforce, that whitethorn connection small comfortableness to the employees who abruptly find themselves retired of enactment arsenic companies tout their adoption of specified tools.

In 2025, companies straight pointed to their usage of AI successful announcing 55,000 occupation cuts — much than 12 times the fig of layoffs attributed to AI conscionable 2 years earlier, according to outplacement steadfast Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Of those occupation losses, 51,000 were successful tech, with astir of the cuts concentrated successful tech-heavy states specified arsenic California and Washington.

After years of pouring wealth into AI successful a bid to boost ratio and productivity, companies are nether unit to show the gains, Challenger, main gross serviceman of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, told CBS News.

"That means jobs being replaced with artificial intelligence," helium said.

Amazon is 1 of the tech giants turning to AI. In 2025, CEO Andy Jassy said successful a memo that helium expected the e-commerce elephantine to shrink its fig of white-collar jobs arsenic the institution invests successful AI "agents" implicit the adjacent fewer years successful hunt of ratio gains.

"We volition request less radical doing immoderate of the jobs that are being done today, and much radical doing different types of jobs," Jassy said astatine the time.

Amazon said successful January that it was cutting 16,000 jobs, but didn't explicitly notation its usage of AI successful a memo to employees.

By contrast, Pinterest framed the cuts arsenic a mode to redirect resources toward expanding its AI systems and capabilities.

Other companies haven't explicitly mentioned AI successful their layoffs announcements, but person noted that they are ramping up their usage of exertion and automation.

A convenient excuse?

The flurry of layoff announcements comes arsenic economists effort to get a work connected however AI volition reshape America's workforce — a fast-moving people fixed the detonation successful AI usage crossed the economy.

Ben May, manager of planetary macro probe astatine concern advisory steadfast Oxford Economics, said successful a caller study that portion immoderate jobs are perchance exposed to AI, astir employers don't look to beryllium replacing a important fig of workers with AI.

He besides suggested thing other — that companies could beryllium utilizing AI arsenic a pretext for occupation cuts.

"We fishy immoderate firms are trying to formal up layoffs arsenic a bully quality communicative alternatively than a atrocious 1 — for example, by pointing to technological alteration alternatively of past overhiring," helium said.

Lisa Simon, main economist astatine Revelio Labs, which collects and analyzes nationalist labour marketplace data, besides suspects that immoderate companies are pointing to their usage of AI to rationalize layoffs.

"Companies privation to get escaped of departments that nary longer service them," she said. "And I think, for now, AI is simply a small spot of a beforehand and an excuse."

She posits that the exertion is having much of an interaction connected hiring than layoffs, with companies pulling backmost arsenic they recognize they tin bash much with less.

Challenger said helium expects AI-related layoff notices to support coming. "This technological innovation, I think, it's going to impact beauteous overmuch each industry," helium said.

Companies that person announced AI-related cuts

Pinterest
The San Francisco-based institution announced successful January that it plans to chopped 15% of its workforce, with a spokesperson telling CBS News that the societal media institution is "making organizational changes to further present connected our AI-forward strategy, which includes hiring AI-proficient talent."

Dow
Dow, an American chemic and plastics manufacturer, said past period that it is eliminating astir 4,500 jobs as it steps up its usage of AI and automation.

Indeed and Glassdoor
The vocation services firms, some owned by Recruit Holdings, announced past twelvemonth that they were slashing a full of roughly 1,300 jobs. In an email to employees, Recruit Holdings CEO Hisayuki "Deko" Idekoba said that "AI is changing the world" and that the institution indispensable accommodate accordingly.

Chegg
In October 2025, online acquisition assistance level Chegg said it was eliminating 45% of its workforce arsenic it faces the "new realities of AI" and reduced postulation from Google.

CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike CEO and co-founder George Kurtz said past twelvemonth that the cybersecurity institution was cutting astir 500 positions arsenic it leans into AI. "We're operating successful a marketplace and exertion inflection point, with AI reshaping each industry, accelerating threats, and evolving lawsuit needs," helium wrote successful a company memo.

HP
In November 2025, HP said in an net announcement that the machine and bundle shaper expected to trim its planetary headcount by 4,000 to 6,000 employees — portion of a wider institution inaugural to summation productivity by utilizing AI. The institution besides said the restructuring would nett $1 cardinal successful savings by the extremity of fiscal twelvemonth 2028.

Workday
Workday, which runs a cloud-based level that helps companies negociate HR and finance, said successful February 2025 that it would destruct astir 1,750 jobs. CEO Carl Eschenbach cited AI successful the restructuring announcement.

"Companies everyplace are reimagining however enactment gets done, and the expanding request for AI has the imaginable to thrust a caller epoch of maturation for Workday," helium wrote. "This creates a monolithic accidental for us, but we request to marque immoderate changes to amended align our resources with our customers' evolving needs."

Edited by Alain Sherter

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