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RICHMOND, Va. — CoStar Group, Inc. laid off more than 100 people from its downtown Richmond offices this week, according to a company statement and individuals familiar with the job cuts.
The company, which has more than 2,500 employees in the Richmond area, cited the use of artificial intelligence as one reason for the layoffs.
“The company expects to eliminate roles in 2025 from efficiencies gained by using AI and reallocate those resources into other areas,” a company spokesperson said in a press release posted online. “CoStar Group sees rapidly growing value in leveraging artificial intelligence to improve content creation, drive operational efficiencies, and build the next generation of digital real estate user interfaces.”
CoStar Group operates real estate websites like Homes.com and Apartments.com.
Some of the recently laid-off CoStar employees worked to research and create real estate listings for neighborhoods across the nation.
The company said some of the layoffs were also due to “normal annual performance management.”
In the same announcement, CoStar said it planned to hire around 500 new salespeople for Homes.com and 100 new market analysts. They also plan to hire another 500 people when they complete their acquisition of Matterport.
“The company will complete its major one million-square-foot campus development along the James River in May 2026. Upon completion, the campus will be nearly full and house 3,500 employees,” the statement continued.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Milos Manic, an AI professor and director of VCU’s Cybersecurity Center. “AI has been around for decades, but the growth surpassed exponential growth.”
Manic’s research shows that other businesses and industries will soon be following suit. They will make changes to their workforce to balance utilizing technology to increase efficiency and quality, he said.
“We don’t have a choice. If one industry doesn’t pick up on AI capabilities, the other one will,” Manic said. “If they don’t, they will likely stagnate and likely even disappear.”
While AI is the future, Manic doesn’t want people to panic. Just as people adapted to the internet in the workplace, he says companies will find the balance in AI use.
“Some jobs, possibly many, will change,” he said. “But even through this, this change is happening faster than any other technological advancement, we still have time, and we still are active participants.”
Were you impacted by the CoStar layoff? Email the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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