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- As of July 24, 2026, Business Insider's running tracker names at least 17 companies that have publicly tied layoffs or hiring slowdowns to AI, including Uber, GitLab, IBM, Klarna, Duolingo, UPS, Dropbox, and Salesforce.
- Uber cut roles inside its Community Operations customer-support org in October 2025, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi pushing a leaner, AI-enabled 'startup mindset.'
- Klarna's AI assistant reportedly did the work of roughly 700 full-time customer-service agents, with headcount falling from over 5,000 toward roughly 3,000 to 3,800.
- Reuters and several labor economists push back on the AI framing, arguing much of the cutting reflects pandemic-era over-hiring corrections with AI cited as convenient cover.
What Happened
According to Business Insider's ongoing tracker (surfaced through Google News aggregation), the list of companies willing to say the words 'AI' and 'layoffs' in the same sentence has kept growing through 2025 and into 2026. As of July 24, 2026, the tracker's '17 companies' installment names Uber and GitLab alongside IBM, Klarna, Duolingo, UPS, Dropbox, and Salesforce as firms that have explicitly linked workforce reductions or hiring slowdowns to AI adoption.
Uber's cuts landed in its Community Operations division in October 2025, trimming customer-support roles as Khosrowshahi framed efficiency and AI tooling as central to how the company wants to operate going forward. GitLab, meanwhile, disclosed a 2025 restructuring that reduced headcount by what Business Insider describes as a mid-to-high single-digit percentage of staff, part of a broader pivot toward AI-native DevSecOps products built around GitLab Duo.
Why It Matters for Your AI Tool Stack And Productivity
The workflow being automated across almost every name on this list is the same one: tier-one, high-volume, repeatable human labor — customer support tickets, HR case intake, routine engineering scaffolding. That's the pattern connecting Klarna's assistant, Salesforce's Agentforce, and GitLab Duo. It's not that AI writes better code or resolves disputes with more empathy; it's that it can absorb the repetitive middle of a workflow well enough that fewer humans are needed to handle the volume.
Klarna is the cleanest illustration of the math. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the company's OpenAI-powered assistant was doing work equivalent to roughly 700 full-time agents, and headcount fell from a peak above 5,000 toward a range of roughly 3,000 to 3,800.
Chart: Klarna's headcount trajectory from its reported peak of over 5,000 employees to a current range of roughly 3,000 to 3,800, alongside a workforce reportedly equivalent to about 700 human agents' worth of AI-handled support.
Our read on that chart: the gap between the two bars is too large to explain by AI alone, and Siemiatkowski himself has since acknowledged quality trade-offs that led Klarna to rehire some human support staff — a detail that complicates any tidy 'AI replaced them' narrative. TechCrunch's coverage of the Uber and GitLab restructurings adds useful nuance here too, framing both moves as product-strategy pivots (Uber toward a leaner operating model, GitLab toward AI-native DevSecOps) rather than pure headcount-for-headcount AI substitution. Reuters, by contrast, has been more skeptical across its wire coverage, noting that AI attribution often arrives bundled with broader cost-cutting and post-pandemic hiring corrections — a divergence worth keeping in mind before taking any single company's framing at face value. That skepticism echoes a broader shift documented in Career's recent look at why the job market now favors seniority over youth, where entry-level and routine roles are absorbing the brunt of restructuring while senior, judgment-heavy positions hold steadier.
The AI Angle
The tools doing the actual work vary by company but follow a pattern: Klarna's assistant runs on OpenAI's models; Salesforce credits its Agentforce AI agents with resolving a large share of support cases following its 2025 headcount reduction; GitLab is rebuilding its product line around GitLab Duo rather than simply cutting costs. IBM is the odd case worth flagging — CEO Arvind Krishna said AI and automation replaced a few hundred HR roles, but IBM also says it reinvested the savings into hiring elsewhere, which is a meaningfully different story than a straight headcount reduction. Duolingo's 2025 move to phase out contractors for AI-capable work, adopting an explicit 'AI-first' operating stance, fits the same broader pattern without the reinvestment nuance IBM offers.
What Should You Do? 3 Action Steps
If your day-to-day resembles tier-one support, HR case intake, or repetitive engineering scaffolding, the risk isn't abstract — it's the exact workflow AI assistants like GitLab Duo and Agentforce are already absorbing.
Workers in exposed roles should review emergency-fund coverage, confirm severance terms, and check how a sudden income gap would ripple through an investment portfolio before it becomes an urgent problem instead of a planned one.
The IBM example shows companies still hire — just not for the same tasks. Roles that involve reviewing, correcting, or directing AI output tend to be more durable than roles that are purely repetitive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are laying off workers because of AI?
As of July 24, 2026, Business Insider's tracker names at least 17 companies, including Uber, GitLab, IBM, Klarna, Duolingo, UPS, Dropbox, and Salesforce, as having publicly tied layoffs or hiring slowdowns to AI adoption.
Is Uber laying off employees due to AI?
Uber cut roles in its Community Operations customer-support organization in October 2025, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi citing AI-driven efficiency and a leaner 'startup mindset' as reasons for the smaller team.
How many jobs has AI replaced so far?
There's no single verified national figure. Company-specific claims exist — Klarna says its AI assistant does work equivalent to about 700 agents, and IBM's CEO said AI and automation replaced a few hundred HR roles — but no comprehensive, verified total across the economy has been confirmed as of July 24, 2026.
Did GitLab lay off employees in 2025?
Yes. GitLab announced a 2025 restructuring that reduced its workforce by a reported mid-to-high single-digit percentage as the company repositioned around AI-native DevSecOps products including GitLab Duo.
Are AI layoffs real or an excuse for cost-cutting?
Both, depending on the company. Reuters and several labor economists argue AI is often cited alongside — or as cover for — broader cost-cutting and post-pandemic hiring corrections, while Business Insider's tracker largely takes companies' own AI attributions at face value.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Company headcount figures should be confirmed against official filings and investor disclosures before making personal or professional decisions. Research based on publicly available sources current as of July 24, 2026.