AI Fuels Record Job Cuts as Top Firms Slash Thousands of Roles
By Hannah Wilcox
AI has triggered the highest workforce cuts since the financial crisis, with one CEO warning government bans may have to be introduced.
It’s something in the back of all our minds – as AI continues to evolve, will it take our jobs?
As time goes on, it’s seeming more and more likely, with new research pointing a lot more automation in our near future.
US employment consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas revealed in a recent report 1.2 million job cuts were announced last year – up 58 per cent from the roughly 760,000 lay-offs in 2024.
A new report revealed 1.2 million job cuts were announced in the US last year as many firms turn to AI implementation.
Concerningly, 2025 saw the highest level of workforce reductions since 2020, and was almost in line with the 2008 financial crisis.
The private sector tech industry was hit the hardest during the job cut surge.
It was announced last year by the sector that 154,000 roles would be slashed – a 15 per cent increase from about 134,000 in 2024 – all thanks to rapid AI implementation.
In 2025 alone, AI was responsible for 54,836 lay-off plans.
“Technology has been pivoting to both developing and implementing artificial intelligence much more quickly than any other industry,” the Challenger, Gray & Christmas report read.
“This, coupled with over-hiring over the last decade, created a wave of job loss in the industry.”
In January 2025, Meta announced a 5 per cent workforce reduction, impacting about 3600 staffers.
Last May, 6000 employees were let go by Microsoft, and in July, another 9000.
CEO Satya Nadella at the time announced AI was responsible for 20 to 30 per cent of the company’s code, Forbes reported, with Microsoft funding a $US80 billion ($115.7bn) AI infrastructure drive.
JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon welcomed the idea of bans on job cutting in favour of AI.
Meanwhile, Amazon plans to cut as many as 30,000 roles after chief executive Andy Jassy admitted in a memo to staffers last year that the business “will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today”.
Even the US’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, is keeping up with the AI revolution.
CEO Jamie Dimon told the World Economic Forum he’ll likely employ fewer workers in the next five years, warning rushing into AI-driven lay-offs without precautions could potentially trigger “civil unrest”.
Mr Dimon welcomed the idea of government bans on job slashing in favour of AI.
“I have a plan to retrain people, relocate people, income-assist people,” Mr Dimon said of his 300,000 employees.
“Phase it in. Retrain.”
The major bank would agree to the restrictions to “save society”, he added.
“Society will have more production. We’re going to cure a lot of cancers,” Mr Dimon said.
“You’re not going to slow it down.
“How do you have plans in place to make it work better if it does something terrible?”
Katherine was let go as a medical receptionist in favour of an AI.
The concept is not unfamiliar on Australian shores.
In May 2025, a Sydney medical receptionist described the dreaded moment she and others on her team were replaced by artificial intelligence.
Katherine, 24, worked as a medical receptionist at a clinic in Sydney’s Inner West when, four days before Christmas, she and three young co-workers were called into a meeting.
“They basically brought us in and said, ‘Thank you so much for all your work here, unfortunately we found a system where we can now use AI to put through the phones that will be on hold to a natural
computer AI so no one else has to pick up the phone unless they have a free moment,” she told news.com.au.
Staff were told emails would be automatically filed into separated mailboxes and patients would be greeted with a generic computer-generated message, saying, “Thanks so much, we’ll get back to you
shortly.”
“It was very organised, but we wouldn’t be doing much,” Katherine said.
“So they let go of the four of us.”
Original source: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/work/ai-fuels-record-job-cuts-as-top-firms-slash-thousands-of-roles/news-story/
