On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that artificial intelligence could eliminate millions of jobs and disrupt working families after Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) disclosed that it cut 21,000 employees over the past year, citing AI adoption as a contributing factor.
Warren Sounds Alarm On AI-Driven Job Losses
Warren took to X to argue that while AI has the potential to transform the economy over the long term, it also poses significant risks to workers in the near future.
The Massachusetts Democrat added that policymakers should act before workers begin losing income and employer-sponsored health coverage, saying, “We shouldn’t wait until people lose their paychecks and health care to take action.”
Her comments came after Oracle’s latest annual regulatory filing revealed the company reduced its workforce by nearly 13% over the past 12 months.
Oracle said the reductions were linked in part to the “adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations” and indicated additional workforce cuts could occur in the future.
AI Emerges As A Growing Factor In Corporate Layoffs
Oracle is not alone in linking workforce reductions to AI initiatives.
According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers announced more than 97,000 job cuts in May, marking the highest total for that month since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The firm said layoffs have increased for three consecutive months this year.
“AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs,” said Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at the outplacement firm.
Several major companies have openly connected layoffs to AI adoption.
Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE:NET) last month attributed a 20% workforce reduction to increased use of AI tools, while Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) acknowledged that AI-driven changes contributed to plans to eliminate 4,000 jobs.
Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) and Block Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) have also announced significant workforce reductions as they integrate AI into operations.
Not everyone agrees that AI is already responsible for widespread job losses.
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang in May criticized executives who blame AI for layoffs.
In an interview with Singapore broadcaster Channel NewsAsia, he called such explanations “lazy” and argued that businesses are not yet deploying AI at a scale capable of replacing large portions of their workforce.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Bryan J. Scrafford on Shutterstock.com
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