Software engineer layoffs blamed on AI? Almost entirely theatre. A new essay from Normal Tech compiles the data — and the picture is clearer than most pundits want to admit.
"59% of U.S. hiring managers admitted they emphasise AI when explaining hiring freezes or layoffs because it plays better with stakeholders than citing financial constraints."
Block, Snap, Intuit — all recently cited AI as a reason for cuts. All turned out to have more ordinary explanations: pandemic-era hiring excess, activist investor pressure, management layer trimming. The Intuit CEO literally pushed back on the framing himself, saying the cuts "had nothing to do with AI."
What the data actually shows
WARN Act disclosures — New York added an AI checkbox to layoff filings in 2025. After a full year and 160+ filings, just one company checked it. Out of ~25,000 laid-off workers, 46 (0.2%) were flagged as AI-related.
