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“Artificial intelligence is already replacing American workers, and experts project AI could drive unemployment up to 10-20 percent in the next five years,” said Senator Hawley. “The American people need to have an accurate understanding of how AI is affecting our workforce, so we can ensure that AI works for the people, not the other way around.” On October 28, Amazon announced its plan to cut 14,000 corporate jobs to make room for spending on AI. It’s the latest in a slew of companies leaning on artificial intelligence. In September, Salesforce laid off 4,000 employees and Lufthansa said it would get rid of 4,000 jobs by 2030 because of AI. But there’s skepticism now around which of these companies are telling the truth, and which are using AI as an excuse—or to impress investors. “I’m really skeptical whether the layoffs that we see currently are really due to true efficiency gains,” Fabian Stephany, assistant professor of AI and work at the Oxford Internet Institute, told CNBC. “It’s rather really a projection into AI in the sense of ‘We can use AI to make good excuses.’” Stephany says some companies that announced AI related layoffs, including Klarna and Duolingo, overhired during the pandemic and now have to cut those roles. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski posted on X October 19 that the company has made “0 layoffs due to AI” but has “virtually stopped hiring, since 2023, largely due to AI.” Amazon’s CEO on October 30 said its layoffs weren’t driven by AI, but rather by culture. Such clarifications are part of what makes it challenging for workers to understand the real reason behind layoffs. It’s much easier for a company to say, ‘We are laying workers off because we’re realizing AI-related efficiencies’ than to say ‘We’re laying people off because we’re not that profitable or bloated, or facing a slowing economic environment, etc,’” David Autor, an MIT economics professor, wrote in an email to NBC News. “Whether or not AI were the reason, you’d be wise to attribute the credit/blame to AI.” The proposed bill would require companies to report layoffs “substantially due to replacement or automation by artificial intelligence” along with new hires “that are substantially due to the incorporation of artificial intelligence.” “Good policy starts with good data,” said Senator Warner. “Armed with this information, we can make sure AI drives opportunity instead of leaving workers behind.”
