An Overwhelming Majority Plan on Future Layoffs
One last troubling statistic from the new report? 94% of the surveyed companies say they “expect to reduce headcount as AI takes over more functions.”
In other words, half of the companies may be planning compensation cuts in 2026 — but an overwhelming majority are planning on even more layoffs at some point in the near future.
Last year, we covered British computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton’s view that AI will “very likely” cause mass unemployment.
We’ve already seen plenty of headline-grabbing mass layoffs due to AI, from Accenture to Duolingo. Executives’ minds seem to be made up. They’re operating in lockstep, moving towards a goal of lowering headcounts while relying on AI to pick up the slack.
