Corporations are blaming AI for job cuts. Critics say it’s a ‘good excuse’

From tech to airways, giant international firms have been slashing employees because the real-world influence of synthetic intelligence performs out, spooking staff. However critics say AI has grow to be a straightforward excuse for corporations trying to downsize.

Final month, tech consultancy agency Accenture introduced a restructuring plan that features fast exits for staff that are not first capable of reskill on AI. Days later, Lufthansa stated it was going to remove 4,000 jobs by 2030 because it leans on AI to extend effectivity.

Salesforce additionally laid off 4,000 buyer assist roles in September, saying that AI can do 50% of the work on the firm. In the meantime, fintech agency Klarna has decreased employees by 40% because it aggressively adopts AI instruments.

Language-learning platform Duolingo has said that it’ll progressively cease counting on contractors and use AI to fill the gaps.

The headlines are grim, however Fabian Stephany, assistant professor of AI and work on the Oxford Web Institute, stated there is likely to be extra to job cuts than meets the attention.

Beforehand there could have been some stigma connected to utilizing AI, however now firms are “scapegoating” the know-how to take the autumn for difficult enterprise strikes reminiscent of layoffs.

“I am actually skeptical whether or not the layoffs that we see at present are actually resulting from true effectivity positive factors. It is fairly actually a projection into AI within the sense of ‘We are able to use AI to make good excuses,'” Stephany stated in an interview with CNBC.

Firms can primarily place themselves on the frontier of AI know-how to look revolutionary and aggressive, and concurrently conceal the true causes for layoffs, in line with Stephany.

“There is likely to be varied different the reason why firms are having to eliminate a part of their workforce … Duolingo or Klarna are actually prime candidates for this as a result of there was overhiring throughout Corona [Covid-19 pandemic] as effectively,” the professor stated.

Some firms that flourished throughout the pandemic “considerably overhired” and the current layoffs would possibly simply be a “market clearance.”

“It is to some extent firing those who for whom there had not been a sustainable long run perspective and as an alternative of claiming “we miscalculated this two, three years in the past, they will now come to the scapegoating, and that’s saying ‘it is due to AI although,'” he added.

This sample has sparked dialog on-line. One founder, Jean-Christophe Bouglé even stated in a well-liked LinkedIn put up that AI adoption is at a “a lot slower tempo” than is being claimed and in giant companies “there’s not a lot taking place” with AI initiatives even being rolled again resulting from value or safety considerations.

“On the similar time there are bulletins of massive layoff plans ‘due to AI.’ It appears like an enormous excuse, in a context the place the financial system in lots of international locations is slowing down, regardless of what the unimaginable efficiency of inventory exchanges counsel,” stated Bouglé, who co-founded Genuine.ly.

“We have efficiently redeployed tons of of staff into different areas like skilled companies, gross sales, and buyer success,” the Salesforce spokesperson added.

Klarna directed CNBC to its co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski’s feedback on X the place he defined that the corporate shrank its workforce from 5,500 to three,000 individuals in two years however “AI is simply a part of that story.”

Siemiatkowski linked the workforce discount to slimming down its analytics group to 1 “success group,” with many then leaving by pure attrition in addition to the discount of the corporate’s buyer success group.

Lufthansa and Accenture declined to touch upon the matter and didn’t share any additional particulars on their AI restructuring technique. Duolingo didn’t reply to CNBC’s request for remark.

The Price range Lab, a non-partisan coverage analysis middle at Yale College, launched a report on Wednesday which confirmed that U.S. labor has truly been little disrupted by AI automation for the reason that launch of ChatGPT in 2022.

The lab examined U.S. labor market information from November 2022 to July 2025 utilizing a “dissimilarity index” which measured how a lot the occupational combine—the share of staff in numerous jobs—has shifted since AI’s debut and in contrast it to different technological shifts such because the introduction of computer systems and the web. It discovered that AI hasn’t but brought on widespread job losses.

Moreover, New York Fed economists launched analysis in early September which confirmed that AI use amongst corporations “don’t level to important reductions in employment” throughout the companies and manufacturing business within the New York–Northern New Jersey area.

It discovered that 40% of service corporations stated they have been utilizing AI this 12 months, up from 25% final 12 months, whereas manufacturing corporations noticed an analogous bounce from 16% final 12 months to 26% this 12 months, however only a few have been utilizing AI to layoff staff.

Just one% of the companies agency reported AI as the explanation for shedding staff up to now six months, down from 10% that had laid off staff utilizing AI in 2024. In the meantime, 12% of companies corporations stated AI made them rent much less staff in 2025.

Against this, 35% of companies corporations have used AI to retrain staff and 11% have employed extra because of this.

Stephany stated there is not a lot proof from his analysis that exhibits giant ranges of technological unemployment resulting from AI.

“Economists name this structural unemployment, so the pie of labor isn’t large enough for everyone anymore and so individuals will lose jobs positively due to of AI, I do not suppose that that is taking place on a mass scale,” he stated.

He added that considerations about know-how placing an finish to human work may be seen all through historical past.

“It reoccurred this century alone a dozen instances, you’ll be able to return to historic instances the place Roman emperors put maintain to sure machines as a result of they have been anxious about this and at all times the opposite occurred. The machine made firms, industries extra productive.

“It allowed for the emergence of fully new jobs. If you concentrate on the web 20 years in the past, no person would have recognized what a social media influencer is, what an app developer is as a result of it did not exist.”

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