AI Job Cuts and Workforce Restructuring: What the Data Really Shows

AI Disruption Is Reshaping Jobs in 2025: Here’s What the Data Reveals

“Restructuring.” “Realignment.” “Optimization.” These are the words companies use in their layoff memos. However, in 2025, we understand what they really mean: AI is here, and it's transforming everything from job functions to organizational charts to executive decision-making.

At Aura, our workforce intelligence platform has been tracking this transformation in real time. And while many firms are reluctant to admit it, the numbers don’t lie.

Want to see how your organization or portfolio company stacks up against the competition? Receive a demonstration of Aura Intelligence to monitor and derive real-time insights from workforce data.

AI Layoffs in 2025: The Hard Numbers

According to TrueUp, tech firms have so far eliminated over 97,000 jobs in 2025 alone, averaging 476 jobs lost per day. Big tech is leading the charge, and attributing most of the reductions to AI realignments.

• Microsoft laid off 6,000 employees in May. Over 40 percent of them were software engineers, even as its CEO highlighted that 30 percent of the company's code is now generated by AI.

• IBM cut 8,000 jobs, primarily in the HR department. Its AskHR bot now handles over 11 million queries annually.

• Meta reduced its workforce by 5 percent, targeting what it rather controversially deemed "low-performing" staff while continuing to aggressively hire AI engineers at premium compensation levels.

Many firms are hiding these AI-driven moves behind broader terminology. As CNBC recently reported, companies often use vague terms like "restructuring" to avoid backlash, legal scrutiny, or morale issues.

Key AI Workforce Trends from Aura’s July 2025 Report

Aura’s AI Jobs Report from July 2025 adds clarity to the picture:

• AI job postings jumped from 66,000 in January to 139,000 in April, before slowing slightly in June. Companies raced to scale generative AI before shifting focus to deployment and integration.

• AI roles now make up 10 to 12% of all software-related jobs, showing that AI has become a core capability, not a standalone function.

• Job categories seeing the most contraction appear to align closely with where Agentic AI is gaining traction: HR, customer support, operations, and junior-level tech functions.

Where AI Talent Is Growing: Beyond Silicon Valley

California remains a leader in AI hiring, but growth is spreading across the country. Alabama, New York, and even midwestern cities are showing unexpected momentum, reflecting a decentralization of AI expertise and opportunities.

Job Roles Most at Risk from AI Automation

According to Bloomberg, AI is on track to automate:

• 67 percent of sales representative tasks

• 53 percent of market research analyst duties

• Over 40 percent of software development work

Other roles and functions being transformed include examples such as:

• HR teams replaced by AI chatbots

• Entry-level developers asked to use Copilot, then laid off

• Customer service reps replaced by bots that handle 80 percent or more of inquiries

• Content writers, legal researchers, financial analysts, and data entry workers seeing massive cutbacks as automation takes over their tasks

Even creative roles are under pressure. AI tools like DALL-E and Google’s Veo 3 now generate marketing videos, ad copy, and visuals in seconds.

The Silence Is Strategic

Why won’t most companies admit this?

According to Harvard’s Christine Inge, “Being explicit about AI displacement invites blowback... Staying vague helps preserve morale and manage optics.” IBM and Klarna are rare exceptions, openly acknowledging workforce reductions due to AI.

Most others hide behind terms like “operational optimization” while executing what experts call AI-driven workforce reshaping. The pattern is clear, but transparency has not yet become a widely adopted communications tactic.

How Aura Helps Leaders Navigate the Shift

Aura’s platform gives leaders the insight needed to make sense of what’s actually happening.

We provide real-time, outside-in workforce intelligence that connects the dots between your workforce and the broader market. Derive competitive, market-driven insights, such as:

• Layoff patterns and AI investments

• Functional job shifts and AI deployment

• Competitive benchmarking on AI talent hiring

• Organizational restructuring and sentiment risk

You won’t find that depth of visibility from internal HR data dashboards.

Future-Ready Workforce Skills in High Demand

While certain jobs are disappearing, others are rising fast. Aura’s July workforce data highlights surging demand for:

• AI ethics officers

• Human-AI collaboration specialists

• Prompt engineers

• Cross-functional product leaders with AI fluency

• Data storytellers

And it’s not just about technical ability. Communication, adaptability, and problem-solving appear in more job descriptions than any programming language, and remain the top most requested skills in our analysis of millions of job postings.

For Investors and Consultants: What This Means

If you’re analyzing companies, you should be asking:

• Are they hiring AI roles with real strategic value, or chasing hype?

• Are layoffs driven by AI efficiencies or deeper operational issues?

• Is their talent model future-ready, or hollowing out essential capabilities?

Aura provides you with those answers using workforce data that’s both granular and comparative to others in the market. Our platform helps you assess org health and future-fit readiness in a world being dramatically reshaped by AI.

Lead the AI Workforce Shift with Data

Companies are actually now reorganizing their entire enterprise around AI. Entire job categories are disappearing. Others are emerging. But you won’t see the truth on investor calls or company blogs.

You’ll find it in the data, which is where Aura leads. If you’re ready to make confident workforce decisions in the face of AI-driven change,  we’re here to help.

If your business decisions rely on guesswork instead of real-time workforce data, you’re already behind. Let Aura help you see what others can’t.  Book your personalized demo today.