Nearly 4,000 people lost their jobs last month because of AI: report

• About 3,900 people lost their jobs to artificial intelligence in May, according to a new report.
• This is the first time AI is cited as a cause in the Challenger, Grey, and Christmas monthly reports.
• This is the latest evidence that AI will destroy a significant number of jobs.

About 4,000 people laid off in May lost their jobs because of artificial intelligence, making it the first time AI has been included in the monthly reports for Challenger, Grey, and Christmas.

About 3,900 of the more than 80,000 job cuts in May were attributed to AI, the report found. Market and economic conditions, cost reductions, restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions are other reasons for rising employment costs.

Nearly 417,500 jobs were lost between January and May, according to the company’s research, the worst five-month start to the year since 2020, when the outbreak of the pandemic resulted in more than 1.4 million layoffs. became. Outside of the pandemic, early 2023 will see the worst number of layoffs since 820,000 layoffs in early 2009, according to the Challenger report.

A spokeswoman confirmed to insiders that the May report was the reason for the first inclusion of AI, and that the cuts were all from the tech sector, from ChatGPT to the new features announced every year. said it was buzzing with the latest developments in AI technology. Offered weekly from companies such as Google, Adobe, and Amazon.

Challenger expects the trend to continue, but the spokesperson said some companies may be hesitant to reveal that AI is the motivation for layoffs, and that AI-created He said it was unclear how the number of jobs would compare to the number of jobs eliminated by AI. .

Just last week, the National Eating Disorders Association, the nation’s largest nonprofit that supports eating disorders, announced that it would replace at least six helpline employees with an AI chatbot named Tessa that it has been using for the past year, according to insiders. magazine’s Britney Nguyen.However, the organization announced on Tuesday that it would temporarily close Tessa.. This comes amid a report from one user who said Tessa offered advice such as weighing herself weekly and counting calories, and the user previously said the idea made her eat in the first place. He said it was the trigger for him to develop an eating disorder.

In May, the UK telecom company announced on an earnings call that it plans to cut about 55,000 jobs by 2030, many of which will be due to the completion of certain long-planned construction projects. It was a reduction in personnel associated with

However, BT Group CEO Philip Jansen said the company’s existing chatbot, Amy, was already able to answer many user questions and would improve over time. He said about 10,000 of the planned reductions over the next seven years will be replaced by AI.