By Guardian staff reporter
Publication Date: 2026-04-06 21:52:00
HHundreds of thousands of technicians face a harsh reality. Their well-paying jobs are no longer secure. Now that artificial intelligence (AI) is here, its future doesn’t look as bright as it did a decade ago.
As U.S. tech companies have increased their investments in AI, they have shed a staggering number of jobs. Microsoft laid off 15,000 employees last year. Amazon has laid off 30,000 employees in the last six months. Financial services company Block laid off more than 4,000 employees, or 40% of its workforce, in February. Meta has laid off more than 1,000 employees in the past six months and could cut 20% of its workforce in the near future, according to a Reuters report. Just this week, software giant Oracle laid off thousands of workers. Smaller players like Pinterest and Atlassian have also recently made cuts, cutting about 15% and 10% of their workforces, respectively. According to tracker Layoffs.fyi, the total number of tech layoffs last year was more than 165,000.
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