Amazon, Microsoft and more cite AI for 2025 layoffs

Layoffs have become a defining feature of the job market in 2025; Many large companies have announced thousands of layoffs due to the influence of artificial intelligence.

In fact, AI was responsible for nearly 55,000 layoffs in the U.S. this year, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

There will be a total of 1.17 million layoffs by 2025; this was the highest level since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when 2.2 million job cuts were announced by the end of the year.

In October, U.S. employers announced 153,000 layoffs, and in November there were over 71,000 layoffs; According to Challenger, there were over 6,000 references to AI for this month.

At a time when inflation is hurting, tariffs are increasing spending, and companies are trying to take cost-cutting measures, artificial intelligence has offered an attractive, short-term solution to the problem.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a study in November showing that AI could currently do the jobs of 11.7% of the U.S. labor market and save as much as $1.2 trillion in wages in finance, healthcare and other professional services.

Not everyone is convinced that AI is the real reason behind the dramatic layoffs, as Fabian Stephany, an assistant professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Oxford Internet Institute, previously told CNBC that it could be an excuse.

Many companies that have performed well during the pandemic have “significantly overhired,” and the recent layoffs may just be a “market clearing,” Stephany said.

“To some extent it’s pushing people out who don’t have a sustainable long-term perspective and saying ‘we miscalculated this two, three years ago, now they can become scapegoats and that’s because of AI,'” he added.

Here are the top firms pushing AI as part of their layoff and restructuring strategies in 2025.

in October, Amazon It announced the largest round of layoffs in its history, cutting 14,000 corporate roles as it plans to invest in “biggest investments” including artificial intelligence.

Beth Galetti, senior vice president of human experience and technology at Amazon, wrote: “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet, allowing companies to innovate faster than ever before…we believe we need to organize more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and our business.” blog post.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warned of cuts earlier this year, telling employees that AI would reduce the company’s workforce and that the tech giant would need “fewer people doing some of the jobs done today and more people doing other types of jobs.”

Microsoft It has cut nearly 15,000 jobs in total by 2025, and its most recent announcement in July saw 9,000 positions cut.

CEO Satya Nadella wrote: memory He told employees that the company needed to “reimagine” its “mission for a new era” and went on to explain the importance of artificial intelligence to the company.

“What does empowerment look like in the age of AI? It’s not just about building tools for specific roles or tasks. It’s about building tools that empower everyone to create their own tools. This is the shift we’re driving from a software factory to an intelligence engine that empowers every person and organization to build what they need to succeed,” Nadella said. he said.

Global technology giant IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna told the Wall Street Journal In May, AI chatbots took over the jobs of several hundred human resources employees.

But unlike other companies citing AI in layoffs, Krishna admitted that the firm is increasing hiring in other fields that require more critical thinking, such as software engineering, sales and marketing.

In November, the company announced a 1% global outage that could affect approximately 3,000 employees.

Cybersecurity software manufacturer CrowdStrike announced in May that it would lay off 5% of its workforce, or 500 employees, and directly attributed the cuts to artificial intelligence.

“Artificial intelligence has always been fundamental to the way we work,” co-founder and CEO George Kurtz wrote in a note. securities filing. “AI flattens our hiring curve and helps us innovate faster from idea to product. It simplifies go-to-market, improves customer outcomes, and increases efficiency in both the front and back office. AI is a force multiplier across the business.”

HR platform in February Workday was one of the first companies to say it would lay off 8.5% of its workforce this year, or about 1,750 people, as it invests more in artificial intelligence.