Companies Are Laying Off Workers Because of AI’s Potential—Not Its Performance

Will AI lead to layoffs? Are people already losing their jobs to AI? While overall employment in the U.S. is still relatively low, there is considerable speculation that the adoption of generative AI was a cause of recent layoffs and slowed hiring, particularly in the tech industry, for entry-level workers, and in customer service and programming jobs. More may be coming: Leading CEOs—including those from Ford, Amazon, Salesforce, and JP Morgan Chase—have proclaimed that many white-collar jobs at their companies will soon disappear.