AI job cuts: The 13 major companies replacing humans with bots

Dubai: Artificial intelligence (AI) replacing human workers is no longer a thought experiment, it's corporate strategy and it's playing out right now at some of the world's largest companies.

The people building the technology aren't mincing their words either. In 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated he was "confident" that AI would replace a significant number of customer support roles currently handled by humans, both over the phone and online. 

His competitor at Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei,  the company behind AI assistant Claude went even further. In a sweeping 19,000-word essay, Amodei warned that AI could wipe out 50 per cent of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years.

1. Barclays

In October 2026, Barclays announced plans to cut around 5,000 jobs, equivalent to 5 per cent of its workforce, as it increasingly uses AI to reduce costs and improve productivity.

Around 60 per cent of the reductions will affect support functions, including developers, according to chief financial officer Anna Cross.

Reuters reported that approximately 1,000 positions had already been eliminated, with another 4,000 expected by the end of 2026.

2. Microsoft

Microsoft announced a voluntary buyout programme in October 2026 covering approximately 60,000 eligible employees, more than 27 per cent of its global workforce.

The offers cover selected teams across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India, as the company seeks to control costs while investing heavily in AI.

The programme follows 4,800 job cuts announced in July 2026. However, the 60,000 figure represents employees eligible for voluntary exits, not confirmed layoffs.

3. Oracle

Oracle reduced its global workforce by approximately 13 per cent during fiscal year 2026, shedding around 21,000 jobs as part of a broader restructuring partly driven by AI adoption.

According to Reuters, employee numbers declined from 162,000 to 141,000 by May 31, 2026.

The company cited AI automation alongside management changes, strategic shifts and other restructuring factors.

4. Meta

In April, Meta bgean its restructuring plans affecting approximately 8,000 employees, or around 10 per cent of its workforce, as it redirects investment towards artificial intelligence.

The reported reductions primarily target corporate support functions, recruitment and marketing, while other employees are being reassigned to AI infrastructure and engineering operations.

5. Standard Chartered

In May, banking giant Standard Chartered announced plans to cut more than 15 per cent of its back-office workforce, around 7,800 jobs, by 2030 as it expands its use of AI and automation, according to the BBC.

The restructuring aims to improve efficiency and streamline operations, primarily affecting administrative and operational roles across its global support hubs in India, China, Malaysia and Poland, according to the Financial Times and Sky News.

6. Klarna

The buy-now-pay-later giant is a case study in what AI-driven downsizing looks like in practice.

Klarna employed around 7,000 people in 2022. Today, it has roughly 3,000. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has said publicly he expects that number to fall below 2,000 by 2030 and he's not hiding why.

In 2024, the company deployed an AI assistant that now handles the equivalent workload of 700 full-time employees, covering everything from customer queries to refund processing.

7. UPS

In early 2025, UPS announced plans to cut 20,000 jobs, one of the largest workforce reductions in its 116-year history.

CEO Carol Tomé pointed directly at new technologies, including machine learning, as enabling the cuts.

Tasks like proposal generation for sales teams, which once required teams of human pricing experts, are now handled automatically.

8. Duolingo

The language-learning app declared itself ‘AI-first’ in 2025 and quickly acted on it.

CEO Luis von Ahn's internal email, which circulated on LinkedIn, laid out a future in which AI handles content creation, performance reviews, and hiring decisions. Shortly after, Duolingo terminated contracts with 10 per cent of its contractor workforce, with the company acknowledging that AI could now handle translation tasks across its 100-plus language offerings.

No permanent staff were let go but the direction of travel is clear.

9. HP

HP Inc. confirmed it is cutting between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs globally by 2028, explicitly linking the decision to AI adoption.

Former CEO Enrique Lores said the cuts will affect teams in product development, internal operations, and customer support, all areas where AI is being deployed to speed up processes and reduce costs.

10. IBM

IBM has been one of the most transparent companies about the human cost of AI adoption.

In 2025, CEO Arvind Krishna told The Wall Street Journal that the company had replaced hundreds of HR employees with AI, as part of a broader rebalancing that has seen around 8,000 roles cut primarily from its human resources division.

Back in 2023, Krishna had told Bloomberg the figure would be closer to 7,800 back-office jobs replaced by automation. 

11. Amazon 

In 2026, Amazon is laying off 16,000 employees, its second major round of job cuts in three months. In a January blog post, the company said the move is aimed at reducing red tape and speeding up decision-making.

In October 2025, Amazon had already announced plans to cut 14,000 corporate roles, following CEO Andy Jassy’s push to run the company like ‘the world’s biggest startup’, staying agile as AI reshapes the technology sector.

AI isn't explicitly named as the cause of the latest cuts but Jassy stated in a 2025 memo, as Amazon rolls out more generative AI and autonomous agents, it will need fewer people in certain roles and overall headcount is expected to shrink as efficiency gains kick in.

12. Salesforce

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was unusually blunt about this on a podcast in 2024.

"I was able to rebalance my head count on my support," he said. "I've reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000 because I need less heads."

AI agents, he explained, are now handling customer support tasks and working through sales leads, jobs that previously required a large human team. Benioff framed it not as job destruction but as a ‘rebalancing’, either way, 4,000 roles are gone.

13. Dropbox

In 2024, Dropbox cut 20 per cent of its global workforce, around 528 employees.

CEO Drew Houston said the company was trimming roles in areas that were bloated or not delivering results, as part of a push to build a leaner team with a bigger focus on AI. The cuts fell mainly on managers, along with product design and engineering staff.

This article was published on February 21, 2026 and has been updated since.