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If you read the typical 2025 mass layoff notice from a tech industry CEO, you might think that artificial intelligence<\/a> cost workers their jobs. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The reality is more complicated, with companies trying to signal to Wall Street that they’re making themselves more efficient as they prepare for broader changes wrought by AI. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n A new report Wednesday from career website Indeed says tech job postings in July were down 36% from their early 2020 levels, with AI one but not the most obvious factor in stalling a rebound. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n ChatGPT\u2019s debut in late 2022 also corresponded with the end of a pandemic-era hiring binge, making it hard to isolate AI’s role in the hiring doldrums that followed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe\u2019re kind of in this period where the tech job market is weak, but other areas of the job market have also cooled at a similar pace,\u201d said Brendon Bernard, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab. \u201cTech job postings have actually evolved pretty similarly to the rest of the economy, including relative to job postings where there really isn\u2019t that much exposure to AI.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n That nuance is not always clear from the last six months of tech layoff emails, which often include a nod to AI in addition to expressions of sympathy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n When he announced mass layoffs earlier this year, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach invited employees to consider the bigger picture: \u201cCompanies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost explained that a need to shift resources to \u201caccelerate investments\u201d in AI was one of the reasons the company had to cut 1,350, or about 9%, of workers. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The \u201cWhy We’re Doing This\u201d section of CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz’s announcement of 5% job cuts said the cybersecurity company needed to double down on AI investments to \u201caccelerate execution and efficiency.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAI flattens our hiring curve, and helps us innovate from idea to product faster,\u201d Kurtz wrote. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n It’s not just U.S. companies. In India, tech giant Tata Consultancy Services recently characterized its 12,000 layoffs, or 2% of its workforce, as part of a shift to a \u201cFuture-Ready organization\u201d that would be realigning its workforce and \u201cdeploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even the Japanese parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor has cited an AI shift in its notice of 1,300 layoffs at the job search and workplace review sites. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft, which is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, has announced layoffs of about 15,000 workers<\/a> this year even as its profits have soared. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were \u201cweighing heavily\u201d on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company’s mission for an AI era. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially from tech giants that are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI technology. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n