{
  "id": 18107862,
  "title": "Am I going to be fired by AI? How corporate America is being seduced by AI and algorithms in the ‘forever layoffs’ era",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/04/am-i-going-to-be-fired-by-ai-how-corporate-america-is-being-seduced",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-04T10:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91626904/how-likely-are-you-to-be-fired-by-ai"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Meta employee, once celebrated as a top performer, was unexpectedly laid off in spring. Her performance rating had been slipping since her medical leave in late 2025, as her manager adjusted her rating to fit a bell curve. This employee had been ranked high on Meta’s internal dashboards, which categorized \"AI first\" or \"AI native\" practitioners. However, upon her return, her scores dropped, revealing that the dashboards had not accounted for her protected leave status.\n\nSimilar suspicions emerged from another employee who closely monitored AI usage within his team. He noticed the dashboards failed to distinguish between employees' leave and lack of engagement. This led to a lawsuit filed by 26 anonymous Meta employees in July, claiming the company used AI-enabled systems to determine layoffs, disproportionately targeting those needing accommodations or taking parental leave.\n\nA Fast Company LinkedIn poll revealed that over two-thirds of respondents were concerned about AI being used to select employees for layoffs. Major companies like JPMorgan Chase, Disney, Meta, and others are now employing AI to draft self-assessments and performance reviews, tracking absenteeism and sick days, and using productivity data to evaluate worker output. Some managers and HR leaders have admitted to using AI to trim headcount in anonymous surveys.\n\nLegislatures in several states have passed laws to make companies more transparent about AI's role in termination decisions. High-profile lawsuits against HR tech companies like Workday and Eightfold highlight concerns about AI perpetuating discrimination throughout the employment cycle. As AI becomes more pervasive, it's becoming difficult for workers to understand the extent to which AI influences layoff decisions and the significant amount of data companies gather on employees.",
  "summary": "For five years, the former Meta employee had been feted as a high performer by her managers. She had even received a rare equity award in recognition of her performance, which had never fallen below an “exceeds expectations” rating. Imagine her surprise, then, when she was unceremoniously laid off this past spring. Perhaps she should have seen the writing on the wall. After she took a medical…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}