Part 1 of my current video series was about the jobs AI is creating. This one is about the ones it is unfortunately taking.
Employers in the United States announced more than 54,000 job cuts in 2025 and named AI as the cause. In the first half of 2026 alone, the figure hit over 101,000. AI went from 5% of all announced cuts to 23% in 18 months.
According to Statista’s Consumer Pulse survey, 64% of U.S. internet users are concerned about the effect of AI and automation on jobs. And the concern keeps growing: in April 2025, 56% of Americans expected AI to reduce job opportunities, but by March 2026 that was 70%. Fourteen points in under a year.
And of course, this is not a swing in the U.S. only. Across nine Western countries, job losses were the most common answer when people were asked what AI would do to work. The UK and Australia topped it at 66%, while Denmark, still the calmest market in the group, still sat at 45%.
So, the cuts are real, and the worry is running ahead of them, which tends to change how people behave at work long before their role is actually affected. Although, as I wrote two days ago, that worry stays oddly abstract, with many people expecting AI to replace a lot of jobs, just not their own.
So while this sounds all gloomy, I will try to discuss some solutions and how companies are acting amid this scenario in part 3 – so follow me for more!
Now tell me: are you feeling any radical optimism, or simply stressed about how AI is changing the job market? Has AI changed headcount where you work at? And do you expect your own role to look the same in two years? Let me know in the comments.
Sources: Statista Consumer Pulse Survey; Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc./ CBRE Group; YouGov; Quinnipiac University.
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Jobs #FutureOfWork #Employment #Workplace #Statista
Transcript
Transcript
Transcript
If you watch Part 1 of my video on AI and jobs, you already know that the job market is filling up with AI positions. But how are people actually feeling about working amidst all of that AI? Not great. So when we talk about layoffs, the numbers are dire. For example, in 2025, for the whole year, there were 54,000 layoffs connected directly to AI in the United States. Just in the first half of 2026, this number amounted to 101,000. In terms of representation of the whole layoffs in the country, this numbers went from 5% in 2025 to 23% in the first half of 2026. According to Statista’s latest consumer poll survey in the United States, around 64% of the Internet users in the country were concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence and automation on their jobs. This sentiment is not exclusive to the United States. For example, a survey across nine major Western markets found that people were more concerned about. The strong jobs than creating it. Britain and Australia were the most concern of the group, while Denmark was relatively more relaxed about it. But this mood is not improving. In April 20, 2556, percent of responding Americans said that AI would cut more job opportunities than created. In March 2026, this number jumped to 70%. That’s a 14 percentage difference in one year. So the reality is. Jobs are being lost to AI and the fear is growing and growing fast, if not just along the news of AI layoffs, for example. Guess you’re not feeling too hopeful right now, right? But in the Part 3 of this video, I’m going to try to find some light, some solutions and how companies are reacting to it. But in the meantime, I would really like to know how has AI affected workforce and head count in your company? How it affected your routine? Let me know in the comments.