Confirmed reports of job losses in 2023 due to AI


A new report by Challenger Gray and Christmas revealed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) resulted in 4000 job losses. Thus revealing a significant impact of the technology advancement on unemployment. Let's dig out more about such reports.

The growth of Artificial Intelligence is unprecedented and no sector remains untouched by this newly invented technology. There are many versions of the technology some saying that it is different and we need to think about it in another way. As we know that every good thing comes at a cost and so is the case with AI. Its rapid growth has generated many fears and insecurities among techies, writers, clericals, etc. Every other day more and more people are losing their jobs to AI amid all the discussions surrounding this new advancement of technology.

On the other hand, there are many attempts by experts to defuse these growing fears with claims that they lack human intuition and creativity as a whole and can't replace the human workforce despite being created by humans anytime soon. Regardless of all such claims, AI is rapidly replacing human workers at their jobs leaving them stunned. On top of all, things are becoming more challenging with the arrival of new tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing. These fears get strong ground with many solid reports released recently and thus giving nightmares to many tech professionals. Recently, a report released by a US-based consulting firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas raised many eyebrows. Let's have a look at it.

Challenger, Gray, and Christmas Report


The Challenger, Gray, and Christmas monthly report, released in May is drawing the attention of everyone for all the big reasons. The US-based consulting firm in its report has linked the job loss of nearly 4000 people in May to artificial intelligence. This simply means that this new technology is solely responsible for their professional loss. In total, this number represents around 4.9 percent of the job cuts reported for May. A wide variety of sectors are affected by these job cuts. The layoffs are considered even worst than what took place during the Covid in the first five months of a year revealing a whopping number of 4,17,500 people losing their jobs between January to May 2023 in the United States. Since the beginning of 2023, the worst layoff numbers have been recorded since 2009 when 8,20,000 people lost their jobs.

It is, however, also mentioned in the report AI replacing humans is not the only reason for the mass layoffs but market and economic conditions also played a major role for the same. Thus leading to several business closures. The report also assumes significance in the backdrop of the US-based marketing technology company announcing the layoff of its 3 percent global workforce.

The report also revealed that the number of job cuts in May this year exceeded 80,000 in the US firms indicating an increase of 287 percent. Last year, the number was over 20,000 for the same month. An unexpected 4000 people out of 80,000 were fired because of AI in the technology sector only, the report adds.

Not surprisingly, the US companies have also put brakes on new hirings owing to the economic slowdown worldwide and other reasons. According to the report, although it's not going to make a big difference yet US companies have also employed around 7,884 workers in May this year, the lowest total since 2020. In May this year, the hiring at US companies decreased by 83 percent from May 2022.

Above all, more and more sectors are rushing towards adopting automation of work by adapting the latest AI technology in many forms including clerical, administrative, artists, and writers among all.

So far in 2023, 417,500 job cuts have been announced an increase of 315 % from last year's 100,694 job cuts. This is the first time when any report has directly linked the layoffs to AI. Since the tech sector is going through a major advancement so a big impact can be noticed in this sector only. Innovations such as ChatGPT and regular feature updates from tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Adobe, etc are making a big change.

A total of 18,017 people have been made unemployed by the retail industry this year with 8.300 being sacked in May only. In comparison to last year, the layoff percentage is 942 percent higher this year.

The number of job cuts in other industries healthcare, banking, and automotive also soared in May to 33085, 36937, and 8300 respectively.

However, this is not the first time any report or development has raised concerns about AI replacing human jobs. Earlier in March this year, the Goldman Sachs report claimed that Artificial Intelligence may replace 300 million jobs worldwide or 20 percent of the global workforce. An estimated one-fourth of US and European jobs may be automated, the report added.

Also a few months ago, a study conducted by a career site Resume Builder revealed that almost half of the companies using OpenAI's generative AI chatbot ChatGPT have replaced their workers with the bot. Over half of the 1000 business leaders who responded to the survey said that they had replaced workers with ChatGPT since the OpenAI chatbot was launched in November last year and it's saving them money.

Hence, it's a clear sign that AI is being adopted by many companies and they are also encouraging an environment where AI and humans can work together. The use of ChatGPT is serving great excitement among its users and others. Workers need to be aware of how this new technology may affect their current jobs because this technology is being rolled out at workplaces at a rapid pace. This indicates that employers are using ChatGPT to streamline some job responsibilities.

Final Words


Undoubtedly, many companies in the US and other countries have started using ChatGPT in place of the Human workforce. Still, they may be reluctant to disclose AI as a leading factor behind layoffs, making it difficult to determine if AI really is the main reason for job losses. Therefore, there are concerns about the potential for more and more job cuts in the future.


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