Monday, December 8, 2025
Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere these days. It’s the big, buzzy phrase dominating headlines and driving stocks higher this year.
But AI is also disrupting labor markets. Several huge, well-known companies are blaming technology as AI takes away more jobs.
For instance, online education company Chegg laid off 45% of its employees, about 390 people, because AI has hurt demand for its learning tools. It had already cut 22% of its workforce in May because of AI.
Nestle, the world’s largest publicly traded food company, plans to lay off 16,000 workers over the next two years – 12,000 white collar professionals as well as 4,000 manufacturing and supply chain roles. Amazon announced 14,000 job cuts, with an increased focus on investing in the company’s biggest bets, like AI.
In its monthly survey on U.S. job cuts, consulting firm Challenger, Gray, & Christmas said over 17,000 layoffs through the September were due to AI. That includes 7,000 positions eliminated in September alone and doesn’t include Amazon’s announcement.
However, for all the recent news, AI-related layoffs were less than 2% of the 946,000 job cuts, as of this writing. But it could just be the beginning.
Nestles’ manufacturing cuts will come from automating production. Amazon has a goal to hire 600,000 fewer warehouse workers by 2033 and use robots instead.
Automation is expanding to non-routine cognitive occupations like science, engineering, design, law, and more. All workers in these fields are now at a higher risk of unemployment because of AI.
On one hand AI is driving up the market. On the other hand, it’s eliminating jobs.