This leaves some experts questioning whether AI could be serving as a fig leaf for companies that are laying off employees for old-fashioned reasons, such as financial underperformance or global economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s much easier for a company to say, \u2018We are laying workers off because we\u2019re realizing AI-related efficiencies\u2019 than to say \u2018We\u2019re laying people off because we\u2019re not that profitable or bloated, or facing a slowing economic environment, etc,\u2019\u201d David Autor, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in an email to NBC News.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether or not AI were the reason, you\u2019d be wise to attribute the credit\/blame to AI,\u201d wrote Autor, an expert on AI\u2019s impact on workers.<\/p>\n This week, Amazon announced<\/a> it had begun a reorganization that would result in the elimination of 14,000 roles \u2014 and said AI was a leading cause. <\/p>\n \u201cThe world is changing quickly,\u201d Amazon Senior Vice President Beth Galetti wrote Tuesday. \u201cThis generation of AI is the most transformative technology we\u2019ve seen since the Internet, and it\u2019s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet a few hours later, a different Amazon representative tried to downplay the role that AI played in the layoff decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cAI is not the reason behind the vast majority of reductions,\u201d said the representative, who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to give her name. <\/p>\n \u201cLast year, we set out to strengthen our culture and teams by reducing layers,\u201d among other measures, she said. \u201cThe reductions we\u2019re sharing today are a continuation of this work.\u201d <\/p>\n The representative declined to comment on the apparent mismatch between this second statement about AI and Amazon\u2019s earlier comments.<\/p>\n But that disparity \u2014 coming from a company as large and disciplined as Amazon \u2014 highlights how difficult it can be for the public to verify what companies say about AI and its role in personnel decisions.<\/p>\n Amazon joins plenty of other companies in justifying recent job cuts by pointing to AI.<\/p>\n Walmart recently signaled that it intends to keep headcount<\/a> flat over the next several years, largely as a result of AI. <\/p>\n Goldman Sachs announced a fresh round of layoffs this month, saying it planned to reduce human roles<\/a> that AI could potentially perform.<\/p>\n Salesforce recently reduced its workforce by 4,000, citing \u201cthe benefits and efficiencies\u201d of AI. <\/p>\n One might think that these companies were all seeing huge benefits from AI, the kind of returns that would make these difficult \u2014 and expensive \u2014 layoffs worthwhile. <\/p>\n Indeed, the number of companies that report being focused on AI\u2019s return on investment has surged in recent months, according to data from AlphaSense, an AI research firm.<\/p>\n So where, exactly, are all these benefits? That\u2019s where it gets tricky.<\/p>\n Recent studies have found significant limits on the productivity of AI, at least in its current manifestation. <\/p>\n Out of 1,250 firms surveyed by Boston Consulting Group for a September report<\/a>, 60% said they had seen \u201cminimal revenue and cost gains despite substantial investment\u201d in AI. <\/p>\n Only 10% of the organizations involved in a similar Deloitte survey <\/a>said they were getting \u201csignificant return on investment from agentic AI,” or systems that can make decisions beyond simply following prompts.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, more large American companies than ever are using, investing in and measuring the business impact of generative AI, according to a new report<\/a> from UPenn\u2019s Wharton School and GBK Collective. <\/p>\n But like the other surveys, the Wharton report shows mixed results. \u201cIt\u2019s great if you can shave 20 minutes off an email or half an hour reading a report. But that\u2019s not going to leapfrog anything,\u201d said Stefano Puntoni, faculty co-director of Human-AI Research at Wharton and an author of the study.<\/p>\n Many of the same companies that are making layoff announcements while touting AI investments have also been under increased financial pressure. <\/p>\n Amazon\u2019s layoffs announcement comes ahead of its third quarter earnings results, set to be released Thursday. <\/p>\n While analysts expect improvement, there is growing concern about increased competition for Amazon\u2019s AWS cloud platform from AI. After hitting an all-time high in January, shares of Amazon have been largely flat this year and are about 6% below that record.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Salesforce shares are down about 29% from a December 2024 high. Some analysts have questioned whether implementing more AI will be enough to stave off the threat posed by AI to Salesforce\u2019s core product lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter what the current state of the company, the narrative is negative and just about impossible to disprove,\u201d wrote Jackson Ader, an analyst with KeyBanc Capital financial group.<\/p>\n Some of the companies enacting job cuts are simply looking to rein in spending \u2014 including firms at the core of the AI boom. <\/p>\n Last week, Facebook-parent Meta announced<\/a> it was cutting 600 roles in its AI unit over concerns that it had become \u201cbloated.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"Employees](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2025-10\/251029-amazon-layoffs-bf-1401-3876f0.jpg\")
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