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More companies are pointing to AI as they lay off employees
By Updated on: May 5, 2026 / 5:07 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google When Pinterest and Dow announced layoffs last month, they attributed the job cuts in part to a shift to artificial intelligence — a sign that some employers are stepping up their investment in AI as they pare their payrolls. Although economists have generally downplayed the impact to date of generative AI on the broader U.S. workforce, that may offer little comfort to the employees who suddenly find themselves out of work as companies tout their adoption of such tools. In 2025, companies directly pointed to their use of AI in announcing 55,000 job cuts — more than 12 times the number of layoffs attributed to AI just two years earlier, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Of those job losses, 51,000 were in tech, with most of the cuts concentrated in tech-heavy states such as California and Washington.After years of pouring money into AI in a bid to boost efficiency and productivity, companies are under pressure to demonstrate the gains, Challenger, chief revenue officer of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, told CBS News."That means jobs being replaced with artificial intelligence," he said.The Free Press: You Are No Longer the Smartest Type of Thing on EarthAmazon is one of the tech giants turning to AI. In 2025, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo that he expected the e-commerce giant to shrink its number of white-collar jobs as the company invests in AI "agents" over the next few years in search of efficiency gains. "We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy said at the time. Amazon said in January that it was cutting 16,000 jobs, but didn't explicitly mention its use of AI in a memo to employees. By contrast, Pinterest framed the cuts as a way to redirect resources toward expanding its AI systems and capabilities. Other companies haven't explicitly mentioned AI in their layoffs announcements, but have noted that they are ramping up their use of technology and automation. A convenient excuse?The flurry of layoff announcements comes as economists try to get a read on how AI will reshape America's workforce — a fast-moving target given the explosion in AI usage across the economy. Ben May, director of global macro research at investment advisory firm Oxford Economics, said in a recent report that while some jobs are potentially exposed to AI, most employers don't appear to be r...
I Was Laid Off at 55 and Built My Own AI Consultancy; What I Learned ...
Photo courtesy of Kristina Martinelli 2026-05-10T09:11:01.244Z Kristina Martinelli was laid off at 55 and immediately launched her own AI consultancy. She avoided returning to corporate, feeling her expertise was being replaced by AI. Martinelli shared which tool helped her build her sidekick and launch quickly. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with small-business-owner Kristina Martinelli, a 56-year-old AI consultant who formerly worked a corporate job. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Getting displaced at 55 years old caught me completely off guard.I had just spent two years at a Midwest bank as a portfolio manager executive and had decades of experience in corporate technology when I was let go from my job. I grappled with whether I should return to corporate America, asking myself, "Do I stay in an industry that refuses to value my worth as an older worker with institutional knowledge?"Twenty-four hours after I lost that job, I started my own company, coaigence (spelled with all lowercase letters), an AI consultancy.When I moved on, I felt nervous, but I leaned into my Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 industry background and used AI from day one. Starting a business is really about establishing the needBy the end of coaigence's first day, I had created a name for my new company, a framework, and a direction.Obviously, the paperwork that goes along with establishing an LLC, an EIN, getting legal and tax representation, bank accounts for clients, and operating costs all take time. To start a business, it's not about mulling it over; it's about following a dream and taking the first step.I knew my AI services would attract corporate executives because I have decades of experience consulting and strategizing for them.I learned quickly how to build custom GPTs and created a sidekickI had also been using AI before I was displaced, but I had only scratched the surface.Once I decided to launch my company, I became a prompt engineer before anything else. I learned how to talk to AI in a way that got me back something actually useful and immediately started building custom GPTs.I poured everything into a PDF — my thoughts, my vision, and my goals. Then I uploaded it to ChatGPT and named my GPT sidekick Raivyn. I wanted Raivyn to speak and think like me. I don't want emails and communications that sound robotic.I created an 80/20 rule for AI adoption: 80% should be a human-driven approach complemented by 20% of AI augmentation...
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Track AI-driven job displacement in real time. Data on layoffs, companies replacing humans with AI, and workforce impact worldwide.
List of Companies Announcing AI-Driven Layoffs - programs.com
A growing number of companies have cited artificial intelligence and automation as reasons for cutting staff in recent months. In many cases, executives said AI systems were already replacing key roles and allowing teams to operate with far fewer people. We reviewed hundreds of company disclosures, earnings calls, and major media reporting to identify layoffs […]
