Where AI Has Already Eliminated the Most Jobs in the Past 6 Months

Executive Summary

The strongest public evidence from the last six months shows that AI-linked job cuts have been concentrated in technology and software. That is where company statements, labor-market data, and executive commentary align most clearly.

There are also important but fewer cases outside core tech, especially in industrial operations and logistics software. Across most other sectors, the evidence for direct AI-caused layoffs remains limited.

The clearer near-term pattern is slower hiring, fewer backfills, leaner teams, and changing skill requirements.

Where the Evidence Is Strongest

1. Technology and software

This is the clearest center of documented AI-linked cuts.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that technology led all industries in private-sector job cuts in 2025, with 154,445 cuts. In Q1 2026, technology again led with 52,050 cuts, up 40% year over year.

The most exposed functions appear to include:

middle management and coordination
support and operations
repetitive software work
some product-development roles
customer support

This does not look like blanket replacement of technical teams. The pattern appears more targeted: AI is changing team size, role mix, and where companies invest.

2. Industrial operations

One of the clearest non-tech cases is Dow. Reuters reported that Dow will cut about 4,500 jobs, roughly 13% of its workforce, while streamlining work processes using automation and AI.

This matters because it shows AI-linked workforce reduction is not limited to digital-native firms.

3. Logistics software

Reuters reported that WiseTech Global planned to cut about 2,000 roles, nearly one-third of its global workforce, in what was described as an AI-driven overhaul.

Reported functions affected included:

programming
product development
customer service

That suggests AI pressure is extending into selected parts of software delivery, not just support work.

4. Broader corporate functions

There is growing evidence that AI is affecting staffing decisions in:

administrative work
corporate support functions
legal and research workflows
service interactions
management layers

But this area requires caution. In many cases, the stronger signal is tighter hiring discipline, not confirmed AI-linked layoffs. That distinction matters.

The Strongest Concrete Cases

The clearest company-specific cases with an explicit AI link are:

Dow — about 4,500 jobs cut; about 13% of workforce — January 29, 2026
WiseTech Global — about 2,000 roles cut; nearly one-third of workforce — February 25, 2026
Atlassian — about 1,600 jobs cut; about 10% of workforce — March 11, 2026
Block — about 4,000 jobs cut — February 2026
Important note: this figure is supported here by major business press reporting rather than a primary filing in the supplied material.

What the Broader Data Shows

Challenger, Gray & Christmas provides the clearest tracker-based view of AI-cited cuts:

January 2026: 7,624 AI-cited cuts, 7% of all January cuts
February 2026: 4,680, about 10% of all February cuts
March 2026: 15,341, or 25% of all March cuts; AI was the top reason
Q1 2026 total: 27,645 AI-cited announced cuts, about 13% of job-cut plans year to date
Full-year 2025: 54,836 announced layoff plans citing AI, or 5% of all 2025 cuts

These figures are meaningful, but they should be read carefully. Challenger notes that employers often cite AI alongside other factors such as restructuring, cost pressure, or broader business weakness.

What CEOs Are Saying

The strongest executive comments reinforce the same pattern: AI is changing role mix, team size, and hiring logic.

Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said:

“But it would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas. It does.”

He also said:

“We are doing this to self-fund further investment in AI and enterprise sales…”

As reported by Fortune, Block CEO Jack Dorsey said:

“We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working…”

Other executive signals point more to future staffing pressure than immediate layoffs:

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke reportedly told teams to show why work cannot be done with AI before asking for more headcount
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said AI will mean Amazon needs fewer people doing some current jobs over time

What Is Most Likely to Be Affected Next

Based on current evidence, the next areas under pressure are likely to be:

middle-management and coordination roles
customer support and high-volume service workflows
back-office and administrative operations
entry-level research, analysis, and documentation work
narrower slices of coding and product implementation work

AI is currently strongest in tasks involving:

summarization
routing
drafting
repetitive support interactions
structured knowledge work

That makes these roles the most exposed to near-term restructuring. Even so, the immediate effect may show up as:

fewer hires
fewer backfills
stricter headcount approvals
higher expected output per employee

Conclusion

If the question is where AI has already eliminated the most jobs in the last six months, the strongest answer is technology and software.

There are also notable cases in industrial operations and logistics software, showing the pattern is spreading beyond pure tech. But outside those areas, the evidence remains uneven.

In much of the economy, AI’s biggest near-term labor effect may be reduced hiring, leaner teams, and changing skill requirements more than large, clearly attributable layoff announcements.

Methodology

This report uses a conservative standard. A job reduction was treated as AI-linked only when:

a company explicitly tied cuts or staffing reductions to AI, automation, or AI-driven restructuring; or
a reputable labor-market tracker explicitly categorized cuts as AI-related

General layoffs were not presented as AI-caused without a direct sourcing basis. Where causation appears mixed, that uncertainty is stated explicitly.