Most firms that laid off staff due to AI in America seemingly have a new slogan
Corporate executives are adopting a more measured tone about the role of AI in the job market. Investors are seeking evidence that AI investments are enhancing profit margins. As job losses become more frequent, public concerns escalate, with many Americans fearing that AI will diminish economic prospects. In response, companies are now positioning workforce adjustments as a transformation of…
Over the past two years, corporate America's approach to layoffs due to AI has changed significantly. Previously, CEOs were quick to tout how much workforce their artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could eliminate. However, as public concern over employment losses grows, company leaders are now adopting more cautious language, avoiding direct associations between workforce reductions and automation.
According to a report by Axios, communications teams are struggling to balance the demands of shareholders who require evidence that heavy AI spending is boosting profits, with employees who fear being replaced by automated software. This has led companies to backtrack on their messaging about AI-driven job cuts.
In the past, companies like Klarna, Salesforce, and Coinbase announced substantial layoffs, crediting AI for the workforce reductions. Klarna claimed that its AI assistant replaced the work of 700 full-time support workers, while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff stated that AI helped reduce customer support roles from 9,000 to approximately 5,000. Coinbase also laid off about 700 employees, attributing the cuts to a shift towards smaller, "AI-native" teams.
However, this narrative has shifted as worker anxiety continues to rise. Recent surveys show that 61% of Americans expect AI to decrease overall economic opportunities, while only 21% anticipate growth. A significant portion of Americans under 30 believes that AI will eliminate jobs in the next twenty years, according to Pew Research.
To address this issue, corporate leaders are now using more careful phrasing to describe layoffs. Instead of framing them as replacements by AI, they are emphasizing that automation is merely changing how work gets done. Microsoft's chief people officer, Amy Coleman, described 4,800 recent role eliminations as "not being replaced by AI."
Etsy CEO Kruti Patel Goyal clarified that cutting 220 jobs was not driven by AI, while Patreon CEO Jack Conte maintained that a 20% workforce reduction was not about replacing human staff, despite AI changing platform workflows.
Written by urgent.news from Times of India's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
