A recent Mercer survey of nearly 12,000 C-suite executives, HR leaders, investors, and employees found that 99% of CEOs expect AI and automation to drive at least some headcount reduction in the next two years. At the same time, the report found that only 32% of executives believe their organizations are effective at combining human labor with AI systems.These somewhat contradictory stats form the basis of an ongoing debate over AI and jobs. The data from Mercer shows that companies are indeed cutting or expect to cut significant portions of their workforce. In fact, we recently reported that 40,000 tech industry employees lost their jobs in Q1, 2026.
Executives are cutting jobs for an AI future that hasn't fully arrived yet, even as productivity gains remain difficult to prove — data neither confirms nor refutes an AI unemployment apocalypse
Companies may be hiding behind AI to lay off workers for other reasons
108 words~1 min read
