Detroit automakers have cut more than 20,000 U.S. salaried jobs as AI threat looms

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DETROIT — As artificial intelligence expands, it threatens to exacerbate a growing trend for America's largest automakers: the elimination of white-collar workers.

The "Detroit Three" automakers have together cut more than 20,000 U.S. salaried jobs, or 19% of their combined workforces, from recent employment peaks this decade, according to public filings and employment data from the companies.

Reasons for the job declines vary by automaker, but in general are tied to evolving technological changes in the automotive industry, with the rise of software-defined vehicles, autonomous and all-electric vehicles, and, most recently, AI.

"Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.," Ford CEO Jim Farley said in July at the Aspen ideas Festival. "AI will leave a lot of white-collar people behind," he added later.