Stop blaming AI for layoffs

In many circles, the term "AI" has become something of a curse, causing fear to ripple through workers when they hear and see what kinds of tasks it can accomplish -- often tasks they themselves are responsible for.

People fear they will be replaced by AI. And with good reason.

Many businesses are citing AI replacing humans as a main reason for layoffs.

As of this writing, there have been more than 127,000 layoffs at tech companies in 2026, according to Layoffs.fyi. Of those layoffs, more than 97,000 have been attributed to AI -- either to fund AI investment, replace humans with AI or respond to AI-driven market disruption.

But is replacing workers with AI really the reason for all these layoffs? That's doubtful.

TechTarget hosted an advisory board meeting over the summer, with CIOs and analysts weighing in on different topics, including tech trends and AI. One question we asked was whether their organization had laid off people to replace them with AI. The overwhelming response was no.

At ServiceNow, 90% of its service desk is now run by autonomous AI, yet 85% of people in roles replaced by AI agents were upskilled, retrained and moved into different roles, according to Kellie Romack, chief digital information officer at ServiceNow.

AI is not coming for your job. At least, not right now.

AI didn't become mainstream until OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022. Widespread adoption didn't accelerate until 2023. AI is still a very new technology with many bugs to be worked out before it can replace humans without going rogue or causing more problems than it solves.

As someone who works in an industry where many publishers have tried to replace human writers with AI, I can say without a doubt that AI is not ready for prime time. AI often gets things wrong and still very much needs human oversight. 

AI is a convenient scapegoat for decisions that were already made. It's often a dishonest, PR-friendly way to mask the real reasons. Some of those reasons include:

• A correction to pandemic over-hiring. Many businesses increased their head count during the pandemic and are downsizing their operations now.
• Shifting expenses to fund AI infrastructure. Data centers can cost billions of dollars to build and maintain.
• Appeasing Wall Street and investors. Wall Street often rewards companies for being early adopters of AI, which can cause a bump in stock prices. The reduction in costs also plays well for stock prices, even if the savings in salaries are just a drop in the bucket.

Lying to your employees about the real reasons for layoffs will cause distrust in the ranks and often lead to more talent walking out the door. This can ultimately tarnish a brand's reputation and cause investors to tuck tail and run. As a CIO, your credibility as a technology leader can also evaporate. You could be left holding the bag when the AI replacement story falls apart, and you may be unable to attract new talent later.

AI was always meant to be a tool to assist humans in their jobs, not replace them. There is room for both humans and AI in the workplace. Humans shine where AI does not -- in skills such as empathy, judgment, agility, adaptability and curiosity.

Humans also see through the lie of AI replacing them.

Tell the truth. Say you're conducting layoffs to right-size after pandemic over-hiring. Say you're restructuring due to missed growth projections. Say you're shifting resources to AI infrastructure or other business priorities.

The truth will only strengthen your credibility as a CIO and your business in the long run.

Sarah Amsler is a senior managing editor for the IT Strategy team at TechTarget.