Every Major Tech Layoff of 2026 Involving AI

On Monday, Microsoft revealed plans to cut around 4,800 positions, accounting for 2.1% of its global workforce, amid a broader trend of layoffs within the tech industry driven by AI advancements. The company emphasized that these reductions are “not being replaced by AI,” while recognizing that “AI is reshaping the workplace” and automating various routine functions.

These job cuts illustrate a concerning trend in the tech sector: companies reporting record profits yet simultaneously reducing employee counts, attributing both growth and layoffs to AI. The firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas indicated that tech layoffs reached a peak in May, with AI being a primary factor. To date, approximately 120,000 tech jobs have been cut in 2026, according to Layoffs.fyi, which has monitored industry layoffs since 2020.

The reasoning behind these layoffs is increasingly questioned, especially given the significant staffing increases during the pandemic hiring boom, which raises doubts about the industry’s current climate. Below is a chronological overview of notable tech companies that have reported significant layoffs this year, citing AI as a contributing factor.

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Oracle — June 22, 2026. In late June, Oracle announced the reduction of its workforce by 21,000 employees over the past year, reflecting a 13% decrease. This was more than previously revealed and partially attributed to AI. In its annual financial report, the company stated that “the incorporation and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have led to, and may continue to lead to, workforce reductions.”

GitLab — June 3, 2026. GitLab laid off around 350 employees, about 14% of its workforce, to invest in AI infrastructure and manage the rising demand from AI-related workflows. CEO Bill Staples mentioned that workloads driven by automation are “putting pressure on competitors” and the company is undergoing a “generational rebuild” of its core setup to meet what he termed 100x growth demands. GitLab is also exiting 22 countries, simplifying its management structure, and partnering with an undisclosed AI lab to enhance its platform for larger workloads. The firm reported first-quarter earnings of $264 million, a 23% year-over-year increase, and expects restructuring costs between $30 to $35 million.

Google — ongoing through May. Alphabet’s Google has quietly downsized staff across its Cloud division, affecting its Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant-related cybersecurity teams, despite Cloud revenue soaring 63% to exceed $20 billion for the first time, with its backlog nearly doubling to over $460 billion. Over the past year, Google has reduced more than one-third of managers overseeing smaller teams, resulting in a 35% decrease in managerial roles. Unlike other companies, Google has not disclosed a specific overall number — cuts have been implemented through an ongoing performance review process, a voluntary buyout scheme, and structural reorganization, with external estimates suggesting 2026 layoffs may reach between 1,500 and over 3,000 engineers.

Intuit — May 20, 2026. Intuit announced plans to eliminate about 3,000 positions — around 17% of its total workforce — as part of a restructuring aimed at simplifying processes and reallocating resources towards AI. CEO Sasan Goodarzi reportedly told employees that the company is reducing complexity to improve product delivery.

Meta — May 20-21, 2026. Meta laid off approximately 8,000 employees, representing about 10% of its workforce, while shifting around 7,000 workers to new AI-focused positions (which they reportedly oppose). CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed staff that the layoffs were necessary because “success isn’t guaranteed” in AI.

Cisco — May 14, 2026. Cisco announced nearly 4,000 job cuts, about 5% of its workforce, despite reporting unexpectedly strong profit and revenue figures. CFO Mark Patterson described the cuts as not primarily driven by cost-savings but more about “realigning” resources towards silicon, optics, security, and AI.

Cloudflare — May 7-8, 2026. Cloudflare reduced its workforce by about 20% (1,100 employees), reporting quarterly earnings of $639.8 million, a 34% year-over-year increase and its highest-ever quarterly revenue. CEO Matthew Prince noted that “the vast majority of those laid off were middle-management” positions, including roles in finance, legal, internal auditing, and revenue recognition.

General Motors — May 12, 2026. GM cut 500 to 600 jobs, primarily in IT positions in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan, stating it was reassessing its staffing needs amid uncertain market conditions. A source familiar with the layoffs indicated that AI played a role in the decision, though it wasn’t the sole reason. GM’s statement mentioned it is “transforming its Information Technology organization to prepare the company for the future.” Despite these cuts, GM has approximately 80 open IT roles, including positions related to AI, motorsports, and autonomous vehicles.

Coinbase — May 5, 2026. The cryptocurrency exchange announced approximately 700 job cuts, or 14% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring to tackle market volatility and improve AI efficiency. The company streamlined its organizational structure to five layers beneath the CEO and COO and introduced plans to experiment with “one-person teams” merging engineering, design, and product roles. CEO Brian Armstrong stated that AI has significantly sped up workflows — with “engineers using AI to produce in days what previously took weeks” — and underscored the need to “integrate AI into all facets of our operations.”

PayPal — May 5, 2026. PayPal announced plans to cut nearly 20% of its workforce over the next two to three years — exceeding 4,500 jobs — as part of a turnaround strategy focused on AI adoption and reducing operational complexity. CEO Enrique Lores informed investors that the firm would “aggressively implement AI” within its developmental processes and created a new “AI transformation and simplification” team reporting directly to him, tasked with reimagining the company’s mechanisms “function by function.” Lores framed the layoffs as a means of reducing organizational layers, emphasizing that AI would permeate beyond coding into customer service, support operations, and risk management.

Microsoft — April-May 2026. Microsoft provided voluntary separation offers but did not specify how many employees would be affected. CFO Amy Hood noted that total headcount decreased year-over-year in fiscal Q3, with further declines expected as the company intends to “build high-performing teams that operate with agility and speed” amid rising AI investments.

Snap — April 16, 2026. Snap terminated about 16% of its global workforce — around 1,000 permanent employees — and canceled more than 300 job openings, with CEO Evan Spiegel citing advancements in AI as a critical factor. “Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to minimize repetitive tasks, improve efficiency, and better serve our community, partners, and advertisers,” Spiegel stated in a memo to the SEC. The company noted examples of small teams utilizing AI tools to enhance developments across Snapchat+, advertising performance, and infrastructure efficiency.

IBM — ongoing through 2026. Following Q4 2025 reductions and subsequent April 2026 cuts in Red Hat’s engineering team, estimates suggest between 3,000 to 9,000 U.S. positions have been eliminated, bringing IBM’s total cuts since September 2024 to over 15,000. Bloomberg reported that IBM aims to triple its entry-level hiring in AI and hybrid-cloud roles, despite around 200 HR positions being replaced by AI technologies. A spokesperson for IBM characterized the Q4 2025 layoffs as routine adjustments affecting “a low single-digit percentage” of its global workforce.

Atlassian — March 11, 2026. Atlassian cut about 1,600 jobs (10% of its workforce) to focus more on AI and enterprise sales, even as stock values rose nearly 2% following the announcement. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes remarked, “Our approach is not ‘AI replaces people.’ But it would be misleading to deny that AI changes the skill mix we require or the number of positions necessary in certain areas. It does.”

Dell — January 30 (disclosed in March 2026). Dell’s total workforce decreased by approximately 10% in fiscal 2026 — around 11,000 positions — reducing its count to roughly 97,000 employees from 108,000 the year prior, with $569 million allocated for severance. This decline occurred as Dell projected a potential doubling of its AI-optimized server revenue in fiscal 2027.

Oracle — March 5-31, 2026. As previously mentioned, Oracle began notifying employees about widespread job reductions via terminal emails. These layoffs took place despite Oracle reporting a quarterly net income of $3.7 billion, a 27% year-over-year growth, with remaining performance commitments surging 325% to $553 billion — savings directed towards AI data centers. Ultimately, Oracle would later announce that this round of reductions amounted to 21,000 jobs over a 12-month period, as detailed in its annual filing on June 22.

Block — February 26-27, 2026. Jack Dorsey’s Block eliminated 4,000 jobs — nearly half its workforce, reducing its total to under 6,000 from over 10,000. Dorsey shared on X: “We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re developing and using, along with smaller, flatter teams, are enabling a transformative approach to company operations.” He expressed, “I believe many companies are lagging behind. Within the next year, I anticipate that most businesses will recognize the necessity for similar structural changes.”

Salesforce — February 10, 2026. Salesforce let go of fewer than 1,000 employees from divisions including marketing, product management, data analytics, and its Agentforce AI division. The company stated to Fortune, “Thanks to the efficiencies provided by Agentforce, the number of support cases we manage has decreased, eliminating the need to replenish support engineer roles.” This follows an earlier reduction of around 4,000 customer-support positions, shrinking the team from approximately 9,000 to 5,000, alongside CEO Marc Benioff’s assertion that the company needed “fewer personnel” as AI agents managed the workload.

Amazon — January 28, 2026. Amazon eliminated 16,000 corporate roles, following another 14,000 layoffs in October 2025 — roughly 9% of its corporate workforce in just three months. The company stated this was part of “strengthening our organization by removing layers, increasing ownership, and diminishing bureaucracy.” CEO Andy Jassy noted in June 2025 that, “As we deploy more generative AI and agents, it should change how work is conducted. We will need fewer individuals in specific existing roles… Over the next few years, we expect this to reduce our overall corporate workforce as we gain efficiency through comprehensive AI integration across the organization.”