Experts Question Whether AI Is Really Driving Corporate Layoffs

Large employers are increasingly associating workforce reductions with artificial intelligence, but economists and employees affected by recent layoffs say the connection is often overstated. Job cuts at Amazon illustrate how AI is being used as part of a broader efficiency narrative rather than as a clear driver of job elimination. N. Lee Plumb, a former Amazon employee who led AI enablement initiatives and was among the company’s heaviest users of internal AI coding tools, said his layoff followed corporate restructuring decisions, not resistance to automation. Amazon has said AI was not the primary reason for most of its corporate reductions.

Economists argue that AI productivity gains typically accrue at the individual level before they translate into organizational headcount changes. Employees may complete work faster or handle more tasks, but companies must still redesign management structures, workflows, and accountability before reducing staff. Many technology firms are also scaling back after heavy pandemic-era hiring, making it difficult to isolate AI as the decisive factor behind layoffs. Research from Goldman Sachs has found little evidence so far that AI adoption has broadly driven job losses across the economy.