It’s 2026. We’re all asking ChatGPT to help us write our grocery list. Copilot? Rewrite our email to “sound better.” Claude? Draft a business plan. Gemini? Answer every formerly Google-able question we think of. AI and its presence are at the forefront of nearly every decision many make every day, and this doesn’t magically exclude the workplace.
In fact, AI was responsible for more than 55,000 layoffs in 2025.
AI has increased productivity, which doesn’t necessarily mean more job security. While layoffs are a widespread issue, impacted by far more than just AI, technology displacement has become one of the most significant drivers of the layoff anxiety we explored in our most recent blog. Economic uncertainty creates fear—but AI creates a different kind of dread. It’s not just about whether your company can afford to keep you. It’s about whether your role will exist at all.
Workers aren’t just worried about the next round of budget cuts. They’re wondering if they’ll be replaced by a tool that costs $20 a month instead of a $75,000 salary. And unlike economic downturns that eventually recover, technological advancement doesn’t reverse. The skills that made you valuable five years ago might be obsolete next week. The role you’re doing now might not require a human tomorrow.
This is AI anxiety—and it’s reshaping how workers think about their careers, their value, and their futures.
How big is this “problem”, really?
Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People eXperience and Technology at Amazon, said, “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before… we’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership.”
In October 2025, they announced their largest corporate layoff ever: 14,000 people.
This looks like:
- AI tools like GitHub and Copilot are writing up to 30% of new code at Microsoft, leading to around 15,000 jobs being cut
- Between between 30% and 50% of the workload at Salesforce is being completed by AI, contributing to 4,000 customer support roles being slashed
- IBM is laying off around 8,000 employees, mainly from its HR department—these roles were replaced by an internal AI chatbot called AskHR
This is just the beginning, and these are just some of the bigger players in the game. If we’re seeing these trends at the industry giants, they are bound to be coming for jobs at small and medium-sized businesses.
Jobs Are Most at Risk—And Is the Threat Really Real?
The anxiety isn’t unfounded. AI tools are already reshaping entire job categories:
- Legal support roles: Paralegals face an 80% risk of automation by 2026, with legal researchers at 65%
- Healthcare administration: Medical transcription is already 99% automated, with 40% of medical coding projected to follow in 2025
- Content and media: Digital marketing content writer jobs are projected to decline by 50% by 2030, with reporter and writer positions expected to shrink by 30%
- Support functions: Customer service, HR, administrative, and data processing roles are increasingly being automated
Here’s the thing: even though AI was to blame for 55,000 US-based job cuts last year, that number only represents 4.5% of total reported layoffs. Some experts suspect “AI-washing” is going on—blaming job cuts on new technology to cover up old-fashioned cost-cutting and business mistakes.
According to Forrester Research, 55% of employers report regretting laying off workers for AI. Their report documents real failures: Klarna replaced 700 employees with AI, but when quality declined and customers revolted, the company had to rehire humans. Forrester predicts that half of AI-attributed layoffs will be quietly rehired, but offshore or at significantly lower salaries.
So… is the threat real? Is it exaggerated? Truthfully, the answer is both. Whether companies are actually replacing workers with AI or simply using it as a trendy label to cover their tracks, the outcome stays the same: jobs are disappearing, workers are anxious, AI is continuing to get better, and the fear is widespread.
Let’s Talk About the Skills Gap
Despite their anxiety surrounding AI, only 4% of workers are actively pursuing AI training. Yet 54% of them believe AI-related skills are crucial for remaining competitive. At the same time, 72% of hiring managers say their company uses AI, but 55% admit that they don’t have the resources or training to help their team use it effectively.
Workers are caught in a tight spot: needing AI skills to stay relevant, lacking the support from their organizations to do so, and fearing that learning AI will simply help their organization automate them out of their jobs.
What AI Anxiety Means for Your Organization
AI anxiety isn’t just impacting the workers who’ve been laid off. It’s reshaping workforce culture around the country, across every industry. When colleagues are replaced by technology, morale erodes and trust evaporates. Employees wonder if they’re next, if their contributions matter, or if they’re placeholders until AI can actually take over.
This erosion is leading to the “coaster” problem: a growing segment of disengaged workers who don’t think their job deserves their best selves. This group is expected to make up 28% of the workforce in 2026. These aren’t people who’ve quit. They’re people who stay but stop caring.
Read more about quiet quitting and employee experience.
Ironically, companies are cutting jobs for AI functions that don’t exist yet. When more than a quarter of the workforce is actively withholding their best work, no amount of AI advancement will make up for the productivity loss. You can’t automate engagement, loyalty, or the kind of problem-solving that drives real innovation.
Still, AI anxiety won’t go away, for employees or employers. 9 out of 10 HR leaders anticipate that AI will reshape jobs even more in 2026, and an MIT study revealed that 11.7% of jobs could already be automated using current AI technology. Whether the threat is real or perceived, the cultural damage is unavoidable.
How We Can Help
When laid off due to AI, departing employees will face unique challenges that traditional job searches don’t address. They aren’t just looking for a new role. They’re questioning whether their entire skill set is obsolete. Whether they need to go back to school, change fields, or pursue new avenues in their current field. They have to pivot to AI-aided or AI-resistant careers while processing the psychological impact of both being laid off and being “replaced” by a machine.
Our Outplacement Services offer:
- Strategic career coaching that identifies transferable skills to help reposition workers toward roles that leverage AI rather than compete with it.
- Reskilling guidance to help them learn the AI tools that make them more competitive.
- General support for navigating the unique displacement of an AI-related layoff.
For the employees who stay, comprehensive, robust Outplacement demonstrates your organization’s value in their people, not in their output. It shows that leadership recognizes human value beyond automation—building trust during a time when workers need it most.
Conclusion
AI anxiety is real, whether it’s the real reason for displacement or not. Organizations have a responsibility to support their workers through this transition, and Outplacement is one key form of insurance against technology-driven disruption.
If you’re navigating AI-related workforce changes or want to be prepared for the future, whatever it may hold, let’s connect. We help organizations support their people through the transitions that matter—because technology may evolve, but your commitment to your talent shouldn’t.