We are starting to see the acceleration.

Futurists like to tout how technology always "creates more jobs than it destroys". I repeatedly have stated how this is not really the case, at least over the last 30 years. Both the United States and global labor force participation rates exemplify this.

With the introduction of AI, a shockwave was sent through the economy. It is taking a while to emerge but the forecasts of many are starting to trend.

Jobs are being displaced by AI.

Of course, our futurists will tell us not to worry, it always creates more jobs.

In this article, we will dig into some of what is taking place. It is still the early stages. We are nowhere near the accelerant point, which could be two years out. In the meantime, we probably see advancing acceleration leading up to that.

Companies Are Replacing Workers With AI

Over the past year, technology companies were laying people off. This is across the board, being done by both large and smaller organizations.

So what is going on?

In my mind, this does not make sense when we look at the stock prices of Big Tech. While the markets might not be the best indicator of what is happening within a company, rarely are massive layoffs undertaken when stocks are up.

Here is a snapshot of Meta taken from Yahoo Finance:

As we can see, in spite of a significant pullback, the stock has grown a great deal from a couple years ago. I will not post the images but I looked at AMZN, MSFT, GOOG, and APPL. All have similar stories.

Again, what is the deal?

These companies have not stated it publicly but my guess is AI is responsible. Logic leads me to believe that technology companies would be the first to implement the AI into their workflows. It could be impacting jobs.

Even without their admission, there are other companies who are owning up to what is taking place.

Job Losses

An article in Forbes listed 5 companies that have acknowledged layoffs due to AI.

Here is a sample of what was written:

Klarna

The company heavily invested in AI to handle customer service inquiries, process transactions, and optimize its operations. Klarna implemented an AI assistant that manages the workload equivalent to 700 full-time staffers.

UPS

In early 2025, UPS announced plans to lay off 20,000 workers, marking one of the largest workforce reductions in its 116-year history. CEO Carol Tomé highlighted that new technologies, including machine learning, enabled these cuts by automating tasks like proposal generation for sales teams, which previously required human pricing experts.

Duolingo

Duolingo terminated agreements for 10% of its contractor workforce, citing a pivot to AI for content translation. A company spokesperson acknowledged that AI contributed to this decision, as automated systems could now handle tasks like translating course materials across its 100+ language offerings.

Intuit

Intuit, the financial software company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks, laid off about 1,800 employees in 2024, saying the savings would be reinvested in AI technology. The company’s leadership described AI as a critical component of its future strategy, notably for automating customer support, data analysis and the tax preparation process. By replacing human workers with AI tools, Intuit aims to enhance efficiency and stay competitive in the rapidly evolving fintech sector.

Cisco

Cisco announced plans in 2024 to lay off 7% of its workforce, roughly 5,900 employees, as part of a strategic pivot toward high-growth areas like AI and cybersecurity. The company has been integrating AI into its networking solutions, such as predictive analytics for network management and automated customer support systems.

Again, we see some large and small numbers. Duolingo is not on par with the others but it was able to reduce human labor through the integration of AI.

The Future Before Our Eyes

I often cite the statements by Marc Benioffs. He is the CEO of Salesforce, a company that decided against hiring any software engineers in 2025. The reason for this is AI was able to increase the code output by 30%, with no additional staff. I wonder if 2026 will see a reduction in the number of software people it employs.

My view is not one of AI doom. However, there are going to be periods of massive disruption over the next decade. Society is not prepared for much of what is coming.

Central in this thesis is the fact that we are seeing labor completely upended. Knowledge work is at serious risk as AI keeps improving. Many advise gaining new talents and that companies need to upskill through training.

Aren't these the same people who told everyone to "learn how to code"?

That narrative was blasted to hell in just a couple short years. The reason: AI.

As the capabilities of these systems improve, we are going to see the tentacles spread out. The number of companies on the list will grow. It is also likely we see the amount of people laid off also following the same trend.

In other words, this will become exponential also.

Autonomy is the future. This is a crucial point for everyone to realize. The next decade will see an substantial move towards an autonomous world. AI will be 5-7 years ahead of robotics but the latter will have an impact as we move into the 2030s.

How will society handle this? It is something that is still not getting a lot of attention. Instead, the focus is upon how AI is going to usher in the age of killer robots.

The chance of that happening is lower than what I am discussing here. In fact, it is already starting to take place to a significant degree.

Posted Using INLEO