Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently said that the company likely won’t hire software engineers this year since AI is making its existing workers more productive. Similarly, Shopify told managers to assess whether AI can fill a position before hiring humans, and Duolingo outright said it's automating the work of contractors. A World Economic Forum survey of companies in January showed that 41% of employers plan to slash head count due to automation.
Meanwhile, some companies are cutting staff as priorities shift toward AI development. Microsoft is reportedly preparing to lay off thousands of workers amid its AI spending push.