AI: Jobs, Power & Money

For the first time in recorded history, AI led all stated reasons for US job cuts in March, with Challenger tallying 15,341 AI-attributed layoffs in a single month. Oracle executed the largest AI-funded workforce reduction to date, cutting up to 30,000 jobs to free capital for a $156 billion data centre programme, while BLS data, jobless claims, and state disclosure laws proved structurally unable to count the displaced.

A survey of 750 CFOs finds AI-driven layoffs will be nine times higher in 2026 than 2025, yet a parallel study of 6,000 executives shows 90% of firms report zero employment impact so far. The gap between what companies plan and what they measure defines a week in which the EU voted to delay workplace AI rules by 16 months, US senators split into competing camps, and the first AI disclosure law in the world produced no data at all.

Global tech layoffs reached 45,363 in Q1 2026 with a fifth explicitly citing AI, but a counter-signal is emerging: Gartner predicts half of companies that cut customer service staff for AI will rehire by 2027, and an Orgvue survey found 55% of leaders already regret AI-driven cuts. Atlassian (1,600 jobs), Dell (11,000), and Crypto.com (180) joined the layoff queue as Washington advanced competing responses — a bipartisan workforce commission and a Sanders robot tax.

Meta plans to cut up to 20% of its 79,000 workforce while nearly doubling AI capital spending to $115–135 billion. Major technology firms have eliminated over 55,000 jobs in 2026 while collectively committing $650–690 billion to AI infrastructure, and equity markets are rewarding the trade.