Layoff notifications have long included wording about tough decisions in challenging times. Now, they\u2019re also nodding at how artificial intelligence is reshaping workforces and companies\u2019 priorities.<\/p>\n
When Meta began laying off roughly 8,000 employees worldwide this week amid massive investments in AI<\/a>, CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbed it \u201cthe most consequential technology of our lifetimes.\u201d<\/p>\n Zuckerberg\u2019s memo, which was shared online by New York Times reporter Mike Isaac<\/a>, emphasized that the \u201ccompanies that lead the way will define the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s not the only one pushing such messaging. Chuck Robbins, the CEO of Cisco, said in a memo to staff this month that the companies that \u201cwill win in the AI era will be those with focus, urgency, and the discipline to continuously shift investment toward the areas where demand and long-term value creation are strongest,\u201d according to Business Insider<\/a>. Being one of those winners meant hard choices, he said. The company planned to cut about 4,000 roles.<\/p>\n Executives at Cloudflare, meanwhile, said in a message <\/a>to staff on May 7 that \u201cthe way we work at Cloudflare has fundamentally changed.\u201d The company similarly announced layoffs affecting some 1,100 workers.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s actions are not a cost-cutting exercise or an assessment of individuals\u2019 performance; they are about Cloudflare defining how a world-class, high-growth company operates and creates value in the agentic AI era,\u201d the memo said.<\/p>\n Crypto exchange Coinbase, which announced plans to cut 700 staffers this month,<\/a> also pointed to AI. CEO Brian Armstrong said in a memo to employees <\/a>that the company needed to respond to market conditions and AI\u2019s role in the workplace.<\/p>\n \u201cAI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we\u2019re reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cThis is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n So far this year, job cut announcements have been especially pronounced in the tech space, while overall layoff rates remain relatively low. The global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks layoff plans, said this month <\/a>that as of April, the tech industry has been responsible for more than 85,000 of this year\u2019s 300,000-plus job cut announcements.<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless of whether individual jobs are being replaced by AI, the money for those roles is,\u201d Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Emma Ockerman<\/a> is a reporter covering the economy and labor for Yahoo Finance. You can reach her at emma.ockerman@yahooinc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Layoff notifications have long included wording about tough decisions in challenging times. Now, they\u2019re also nodding at how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,6880,5355,1112,28692],"class_list":["post-48065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-brian-armstrong","tag-chuck-robbins","tag-mark-zuckerberg","tag-tough-decisions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}