Tech industry cites AI reason behind major layoffs

The tech industry, which created artificial intelligence, has laid thousands of people in just 2023 due to AI being the reason behind it. 

AI has already set the alarm bells ringing with its possible takeover of jobs but it already causing a disturbance in the tech industry which has created it. 

According to data provided by the Layoffs.fyi, the tech industry has laid off 212,294 workers in 2023 alone which surpassed the 164,709 recorded in 2022. 

Several tech firms have cited AI as the reason behind the major layoffs as the companies are rethinking new hires recently, CNN reported.

Education technology company, Chegg, disclosed that it was letting go 80 or 4% of its employees "to better position the Company to execute against its AI strategy and to create long-term, sustainable value for its students and investors.”

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, speaking during an interview with Bloomberg, said that the company might stop hiring for the roles which could be replaced by AI in coming years.

However, he subsequently said that "AI is going to create more jobs than it takes away".

In April, file-storage service Dropbox while citing AI as the reason said it was cutting 16% of its workforce.

Recently, Challenger, Gray & Christmas — which is an outplacement firm — laid off 3,900 people due to AI in the tech sector.

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, in a note to his staff related to the job cuts, said: “Over the last few months, AI has captured the world’s collective imagination, expanding the potential market for our next generation of AI-powered products more rapidly than any of us could have anticipated.

“Our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development.”

However, professor of Columbia Business School Dan Wang told CNN that "AI will cause organisations to restructure", however, he does not see them as replacing humans.

“AI, as far as I see it, doesn’t necessarily replace humans, but rather enhances the work of humans,” Wang said. “I think that the kind of competition that we all should be thinking more about is that human specialists will be replaced by human specialists who can take advantage of AI tools.”