Companies cite A.I. for layoffs as critics warn of ‘A.I.-washing’

Companies have increasingly cited artificial intelligence as a reason for workforce cuts, with A.I. mentioned in announcements tied to more than 50,000 layoffs in 2025, the article reports. Amazon said it was cutting 16,000 corporate jobs in addition to 14,000 announced in the fall.

In a June blog post, Chief Executive Andrew Jassy wrote, “As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” and that “in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.” He later walked back the connection, and the company said most of the cuts were to reduce bureaucracy; most analysts, however, believe Amazon is cutting jobs to clear money for A.I.

investments such as data centers. Other companies have also pointed to A.I. as a rationale: Pinterest said it would cut about 15 percent of its workforce, partly because it would be “reallocating resources to A.I.-focused roles,” and Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive, Enrique Lores, said embedding A.I.

into HP could lead to as many as 6,000 job cuts in the coming years. But skeptics and researchers warn of “A.I.-washing.” A January report from Forrester said, “Many companies announcing A.I.-related layoffs do not have mature, vetted A.I. applications ready to fill those roles,” and described a trend of attributing financially motivated cuts to future A.I.

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