Companies That Have Replaced Workers with AI in 2024 & 2025

🎯 Impact Sentiment: Concerning

📋 Summary

• Multiple high-profile companies—Google, Salesforce, Klarna, Best Buy, Duolingo, and others—have already reduced or replaced staff with AI, especially in customer support, content creation, and back-office roles.
• Some businesses, like Ikea and Turnitin, have tried to offset the damage by retraining or upskilling workers, but most actions signal permanent job elimination for certain roles.
• Major organizations planning future AI-driven cuts include IBM (up to 7,800 jobs), BT (10,000 jobs), various Wall Street banks, and even U.S. government departments.
• AI isn’t just eliminating repetitive positions; skilled work like journalism, translation, and design is increasingly being automated, and even companies selling AI products are not immune from reductions.

💡 JR Insights

• 💼 Implication: AI is accelerating layoffs across industries—not just in traditional “low-skill” jobs, but also in white-collar and creative fields. Job stability in roles that involve repeatable or automatable tasks is vanishing fast.
• 🚨 Risk: Roles affected by AI are unlikely to return, and the pace of change means many workers may not have time to retrain. Companies that offer worker retraining are rare exceptions, not the rule.
• ✨ Takeaway: If your job involves predictable routines—think support, writing, back-office, entry-level banking—it’s time to future-proof your skills. Focus on adaptability, creative problem-solving, and learning how to work with AI, not against it.