AI pushes 2026 tech layoffs past 50K and counting, employers say

AI pushes 2026 tech layoffs past 50K and counting, employers say

US tech employment had its worst start to the 12 months since 2023, with AI blamed for tens of 1000’s of brutal job cuts, according to a new report.

The first three months of 2026 noticed 52,050 tech layoffs — a 40% soar from the same interval last 12 months, govt teaching agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a report printed Thursday.

Artificial intelligence is more and more being blamed for the cuts.

The U.S. tech sector noticed 52,050 job cuts in the first quarter, a 40% soar from the same interval last 12 months.

In March, AI led the checklist of causes employers gave for tech layoffs — accounting for 15,341 of the firings, or 25% of the complete. Just a month earlier, the determine was 10%.

Last week, Oracle announced 1000’s of layoffs amid declining inventory costs while taking up debt for AI investments.

Meta said in March it was planning sweeping layoffs — with 20% of its workforce, or about 15,000 workers, on the chopping block, according to Reuters.

The drastic cuts have been reportedly supposed to offset the company’s large investments in AI.

In January, Amazon said it might axe 16,000 company workers, with the company suggesting AI will do their work, instead.

That got here on top of news in October that the on-line retailer was axing 14,000 company staff.

Dell in the first three months of the 12 months lower 11,000 jobs, accounting for the greatest tech massacre at one company while layoffs at other corporations have been still unfolding, according to Challenger.

“Companies are shifting budgets toward AI investments at the expense of jobs. The actual replacing of roles can be seen in technology companies, where AI can replace coding functions,” said Challenger, Gray & Christmas chief income officer Andy Challenger.

“Other industries are testing the limits of this new technology, and while it can’t replace jobs completely, it is costing jobs.”

In February, Jack Dorsey said his company Block can be shedding 4,000 staff. AFP through Getty Images

Tech leaders have been sounding the alarm for months.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote in January that AI would wipe out about half of all white collar jobs within one to 5 years.  

Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas lately landed in sizzling water after he argued on a podcast last month that people ought to embrace being changed by artificial intelligence since they don’t like their jobs, anyway.

At Block, CEO Jack Dorsey blamed a latest round of 4,000 layoffs — a whopping 40% of the company’s workforce — on the rising technology, warning of more to return.

“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 which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company,” he wrote on X. “And that’s accelerating rapidly.”

The first quarter of the 12 months noticed 217,362 job cuts across all industries — the lowest quarterly complete since 2022, according to challenger. The tally was down 16% from the final quarter of 2025 and down 56% from the first quarter of 2025. 

Other than AI, employers citing closings, restructurings and financial situations as the causes for layoffs thus far this 12 months.

Across all sectors, U.S.-based employers announced 60,620 job cuts in March alone, up 25% from February, according to challenger.

It said tech accounted for 18,720 of the March layoffs.

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