Is ‘AI-washing’ behind new wave of tech layoffs?

A company might lay people off for any number of reasons: It didn’t meet financial targets. It overhired. It was rocked by tariffs, or the loss of a big client. But lately, many companies are highlighting a new factor: artificial intelligence.

Executives, saying they anticipate huge changes from the technology, are making cuts now. AI was cited in the announcements of more than 50,000 layoffs in 2025, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a research firm.

Amazon said Wednesday that it was cutting 16,000 corporate jobs, in addition to the 14,000 it announced in the fall. In a June blog post, Andrew Jassy, the CEO, said, “As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” adding that “in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.” (He later walked back the connection between layoffs and AI, and the company has since said the reason for most of the cuts was reducing bureaucracy. Most analysts, however, believe Amazon is cutting jobs to clear money for AI investments, such as data centres.)

Pinterest said last month that it would cut about 15% of its workforce, partly because it would be “reallocating resources to AI-focused roles.”

And HP Inc chief executive officer, Enrique Lores, said during an investor call last November, “We see a significant opportunity to embed AI into HP,” which would lead to as many as 6,000 job cuts in the coming years. Investors may applaud such preemptive moves.

But some sceptics (including media outlets) suggest that corporations are disingenuously blaming AI for layoffs, or “AI-washing. As market research firm Forrester put it in a January report: “Many companies announcing AI-related layoffs do not have mature, vetted AI applications ready to fill those roles, highlighting a trend of ‘AI-washing’ — attributing financially motivated cuts to future AI implementation.”