The threat is growing: AI is responsible for 25 percent of layoffs

In the USA, the number of layoffs rose sharply in March 2026. As Fast Company reports, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas finds in a new report that a quarter of these terminations are due to AI. Accordingly, the proportion of jobs canceled due to AI would have increased significantly.

Apparently more and more jobs are threatened by AI

In the summer of 2025, an MIT study found that 95 percent of companies, some of which have invested heavily in AI projects, have not yet been able to make any significant profit from them. Nevertheless, the effects on the labor market are already clearly noticeable. According to recent data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, more than 52,000 tech jobs have been cut in the US so far this year – including 18,720 in the last month alone. Large corporations such as Meta and Oracle were affected. However, the report also points out that Dell’s workforce cuts in particular drove the numbers up, bringing the total to its highest level since 2023.

Over time, various industries were affected by job cuts. This still applies to the tech industry. The report says: “Last year it was the public sector, retail and the technology sector. This year it is the technology sector as well as transport and healthcare.” While the report may reinforce fears that AI is displacing jobs, job losses were about 78 percent lower compared to March 2025. At that time, a total of 275,240 jobs were cut. Additionally, jobless claims in the last week of March reached nearly their lowest level in two years.

The importance of AI training is increasing

The role that AI plays in job cuts remains striking. In an earlier analysis by the consulting firm, which was based on data from November 2025, the proportion of terminations directly related to AI was still less than one percent. The percentage of job cuts affected by AI has increased significantly within just a few months. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is one of the biggest critics of such statistics. He doubts that AI will replace jobs on a large scale and sees this as more of a fake justification. Although he expects AI to change the job market, he believes more in a shift in content. “Of course we will find new types of jobs, as we have done with every technological revolution,” said the OpenAI boss.

Rathin Sinha also expressed similar sentiments in a post on LinkedIn. “Jobs aren’t disappearing across the board – but they are being redefined,” said the tech founder, CEO and president of America’s Job Exchange. “In a world where AI can do the work, the role of humans is coordination. It’s about bringing the pieces together – systems thinking. Not project management, but bringing the elements together so a company can deliver on its unique value proposition.” In its current report, the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas also recommends investing more in further qualification and retraining in order to be able to assert oneself in the AI ​​era.