Opinion- Massive global layoffs in the age of AI

The global dashboard for 2025 indicates that 4286 organisations have announced massive layoffs across technology, retail, finance, automotive, warehousing, government, healthcare administration, logistics and education, underscoring how widespread layoffs are beyond Silicon Valley.
Despite major tech layoffs making headlines, reports show that organisational transformation is occurring globally. Layoffs in the technology industry are still frequent, with worker reductions exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
Microsoft has cut more than 15,000 positions across cloud, gaming, sales and support teams; Intel continues to reduce its global workforce by 20 to 21%, around 25,000 jobs. Amazon is announcing its most significant corporate layoffs to date, affecting AWS, operations, HR and corporate activities, totalling about 14,000.
As part of its AI restructuring programme, Accenture is making 12,000 job cuts. IBM and Salesforce have also announced significant reductions in customer care and support functions.
In other sectors, Burberry plans to cut 20% of its global staff, Nissan is set to eliminate over 10,000 jobs worldwide and HSBC intends to downsize across Asia and beyond. Chegg is slashing its workforce by 45% in response to AI disruptions, and UPS has already cut 48,000 jobs this year.
Indian tech companies are also restructuring workforces amidst automation pressures and talent mismatches. Infosys intends to cut 12,000 positions worldwide, with further cuts planned. Many Indian startup firms are slashing their workforce by 20% to 60%. Workforce restructuring and workforce shrinkage are frequent announcements by businesses in Europe, North America and Asia.
Most people believe that AI is primarily to blame for these layoffs. AI and automation are evidently essential drivers of the 2025 layoff wave; however, company‑specific dynamics are just as important, especially in areas such as over‑hiring, weak strategic planning and chronic under‑investment in workforce development. Many companies also adopt silent layoffs, such as low hiring, non-renewals and low performance. So, the real impact is much more profound than public figures.
Though AI is being made the scapegoat, macroeconomic factors, leadership choices regarding AI deployment and post-pandemic excessive hiring are also contributing to these massive layoffs. Low margins are the result of a higher cost of capital driven by high interest rates, inflation and tariffs.
Reducing personnel is the only obvious way to safeguard profitability and leaders are under pressure to do so. Layoffs are becoming a common risk-management strategy as supply chain disruptions and persistent geopolitical tensions increase unpredictability. The 'Covid-19 Bubble' affirms that many technology companies hired excessively but could not sustain in a post-pandemic economy and in normalised consumption patterns. Many of the cuts we are witnessing in 2025 are a delayed rectification of decisions made in 2020-2022.
Instead of riding out volatility in such an environment, leader boards frequently choose 'preemptive slimming' of personnel, which fundamentally normalises layoffs as a regular risk-management tool rather than only a crisis response. Additionally, there is evidence of AI washing, since many executives attribute all job cutbacks to AI.
AI has automated routine jobs across organisations; it has also changed the definition of core jobs, bringing more jobs into the automation radar and making them more vulnerable.
The future is not distant; it unfolds daily and requires close observation. 2025 will be remembered as a year of massive global layoffs, with 2026 bringing nuanced restructuring driven by ongoing organisational changes.
While the enormous layoffs of 2025 will continue, they will evolve into a more subdued, ongoing restructuring as politicians, workers and leaders argue over who will pay for the benefits and costs of AI-driven workplace reform. 2026 won't be an employment bonanza or a catastrophic situation. It will provide some stability for the labour markets. It will gravitate towards new priorities such as flexibility, agility and micro-skills and specialised skills that cannot be automated.