AP also reported that Meta plans to lay off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, starting next week.
Layoffs are continuing to mount across sectors, and in the tech world more companies are tying job cuts to “artificial intelligence,” according to an Associated Press review of recent announcements. AP said the framing is unnerving workers, many of whom fear what AI’s rapid adoption could mean for their job prospects. The reporting emphasized that corporate explanations are often broad and that AI is rarely presented as the only driver behind layoffs, with many companies also pointing to restructuring or macroeconomic headwinds.
AP’s survey described a pattern in which companies use AI in two ways in their layoff messaging: to justify cuts as part of streamlining operations, and to argue that AI-related investment could create different roles later. Still, AP said executives have rarely provided enough detail for outsiders to determine how much AI is actually responsible versus what the company may be signaling to investors. Even where executives raise the possibility of future openings, the immediate impact of job reductions can arrive before any new hiring is visible.
Cisco Systems disclosed that it would cut under 4,000 jobs—about 5% of its workforce—on Wednesday, AP reported. The announcement came the same day Cisco also unveiled record revenue for its third fiscal quarter, amid soaring demand for its AI tools and infrastructure. AP said Cisco CEO Chunk Robbins told employees in a memo that decisions were needed “making hard decisions,” and he wrote that the companies that will win in the AI era would be those with “focus, urgency, and the discipline to continuously shift investment.” Robbins also said Cisco would help employees affected by the cuts find new opportunities, “whether internal or external.”
AP reported that Block, the financial services provider behind payment platforms like Square and Cash App, moved in February to lay off more than 4,000 of its roughly 10,000-plus employees. AP said Block’s parent company described a reconfiguration to capitalize on AI and cited how “Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company.” In a letter to shareholders, CEO Jack Dorsey said “A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better.”
Other companies outside traditional software firms also cited AI as they announced layoffs. AP said chemical maker Dow, Inc. planned in January to cut about 4,500 jobs as part of a broader effort to “streamline” operations, including increased emphasis on AI and automation. AP also reported that Pinterest said in January it would lay off under 15% of its workforce as it shifted more of its spending to AI, describing the moves as part of broader “transformation initiatives” that included reallocating resources to AI-focused roles and prioritizing AI-powered products.
AP said Lufthansa Group pointed to AI as it planned workforce reductions as well. Last fall, the airline group said it would shed 4,000 jobs by 2030, while citing adoption of AI and digitalization and consolidating work among its member airlines, AP reported.
Alongside those explicit examples, AP said cuts at other large companies are arriving while they invest billions of dollars toward AI. The AP report said Meta plans to lay off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, starting next week, and that when announcing the cuts last month the Facebook owner cited the need to offset investments and broader efficiency. AP also said Meta has continued to ramp up spending on AI infrastructure and hiring AI experts, adding that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said 2026 would be when “AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work.”