Employers who laid off workers for AI are reversing their decisions
A mechanical hand is displayed at Robot Mall, the world’s first embodied smart robot 4S store, in Beijing, China, on August 13, 2025.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images
As investors worry about the longevity of the ongoing AI boom in financial markets, companies are rapidly changing their minds that AI can “do anything” by rehiring employees to move their businesses forward.
automobile manufacturer ford is one of the latest companies to turn the tide. like that reportedly Reassigning hundreds of experienced human engineers to work on quality problems that automated systems cannot solve. “AI is a great tool, but it’s only as good as the information you use to train it,” said Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle equipment engineering. said media.
Other companies abandoning hiring plans to focus more on human capital include: Commonwealth Bank of Australia and software giant IBM’s.
Last year at CBA dismissed More than 40 customer service staff and their replacement with an artificial intelligence voice bot. But the AI system was unable to cope, resulting in an increase in calls and leading to CBA reversing the layoffs. “Getting the CBA to cancel these redundancies is a huge win,” the Australian financial industry union said in a statement. expression.
According to ABC report In August last year, CBA admitted it had “not adequately taken into account all relevant commercial considerations” when announcing redundancies and acknowledged that “we need to be more comprehensive in our assessment of the roles required”.
Similarly, IBM replaced its HR functions with AI, which addressed about 94% of routine requests but failed to address the other 6%, including ethical dilemmas. IBM later announced plans It will triple U.S. entry-level hiring across all business units by 2026.
“What happens in 3-5 years if we don’t continue to invest in entry-level hiring?” IBM chief human resources officer Nickle LaMoreaux said at the Charter AI Summit in New York. he said. “There’s no pipeline; the well is drying out,” LaMoreaux added.
These examples reflect views offered by analysts that laying off employees while deploying more AI may not necessarily offer the best path for business growth.
“Budgeting money on ‘technology to replace humans’ without investing in training or skills development has left teams unprepared to leverage AI.” report by Intuition Labs. “Specifically, many of the companies pushing automation later ‘regretted’ layoffs as people needed to oversee AI were laid off,” he added.
According to a report According to Orgvue, 39% of business leaders have laid off employees due to AI deployment. However, 55 percent of this number admit that wrong decisions were made regarding layoffs.
“In cases where AI outputs are inconsistent, inaccurate or difficult to implement, companies often need to reintroduce human oversight,” said Jessica Zhang, senior vice president at HR solutions provider APAC. ADP. “This can lead to duplication of effort, slowing down decision-making, and diminishing productivity gains,” Zhang added.
Meanwhile, 32% of hiring managers in the US said they eliminated a role primarily because of AI and then rehired for the same or similar position. Robert Half Posted to CNBC.
“Artificial intelligence is changing the workplace, but it’s clear that organizations are finding more value in creating human-AI collaboration rather than completely replacing human labor,” Capitol Technology University said. noted.
