Tech companies are posting record profits while laying off tens of thousands of people and citing AI as the explanation. So far in 2026: 363 layoffs, nearly 150,000 people, 974 per day - 44% faster than last year, per TrueUp. May was the highest single month in two years. AI was the most cited layoff reason across every industry for the third month running.
The chart above makes it concrete. Oracle: up to 30,000 gone. Amazon: 16,000 in a month. Dell cut 11,000 while projecting AI server revenue could double by 2027. Meta laid off 8,000 and moved 7,000 into AI roles simultaneously - a restructure dressed as a reckoning.
The scepticism is growing. No example is sharper than Block. Jack Dorsey insisted the cuts were about AI enabling “a new way of working.” When pressed on the pandemic bloat he had created, he acknowledged Block had overhired.
That is the tell. AI is doing a lot of heavy lifting for decisions with a simpler explanation: companies overstaffed in 2020-2022 and are now correcting. AI sounds forward-looking. Overhiring sounds like poor management.
Full analysis: TechCrunch.