AI could replace as many as hundreds of thousands of jobs. Goldman Sachs put that figure even higher. In a recent report, it said AI would “displace” as many as 300 million jobs worldwide. AI-driven positions might replace some, but not enough to fill the employment crater that would otherwise exist.
Several companies have already started layoffs. And, most are in the tech industry. Financial services are close behind.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) was one of the first companies to say AI would be much more efficient than people. It said 8,000 people would be fired. The first wave of these will be in HR and other support functions that can be “automated.” There was a twist. IBM said it would add workers in other parts of the company that involved what it designated as “skilled workers.”
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has not only made forecasts of job cuts. It will likely be one of the companies that will lay off employees as AI advances. A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis of 93 banks said job cuts in the sector would reach 200,000. Tomasz Noetzel, the BI senior analyst who helped write the report, said, “Any jobs involving routine, repetitive tasks are at risk.” Specifically, the report pointed to Citigroup (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase & Co.(NYSE: JPM), and Goldman. Chase and Citigroup have tens of thousands of people who work at branches.
Microsoft has been open about its cuts. It recently announced layoffs of 6,500. It has cut out another 10,000. These are primary in sales, marketing, and software development. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said AI already write as much as 30% of its code.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy said he could cut jobs as AI does them better. He wrote to employees, “As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.”
Meta (NASDAQ: META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company would lay off 3,600 people who managers thought were underperforming expectations. Some might be replaced by workers who have strong AI skills. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude, said that AI would replace large segments of the workforce. According to The Washington Post, he “predicted last month that AI may eliminate half of all white-collar entry-level jobs within five years.
The announced layoffs at these companies are barely the tip of the iceberg.
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