A growing shift towards artificial intelligence is accelerating job layoffs across the global technology sector, with companies restructuring operations to focus on automation and efficiency.
Industry data shows that more than 73,200 employees were laid off by 95 companies in the first quarter of 2026. The past 2 weeks alone have seen a fresh wave of job reductions as firms continue to realign their priorities.
Several major companies have recently announced layoffs. Snap Inc. plans to cut around 1,000 jobs, which is about 16% of its workforce, and remove over 300 open roles. CEO Evan Spiegel said AI is helping automate repetitive tasks, and the company expects savings of over $500 million by the second half of 2026. Severance costs are estimated between $95 million and $130 million, with affected US employees receiving 4 months’ pay, continued healthcare, and accelerated equity vesting.
The Walt Disney Company is set to cut around 1,000 roles as part of its first major restructuring under CEO Josh D’Amaro. Meta Platforms is also continuing layoffs, with 198 roles affected in California offices, following earlier cuts of 700 roles in March and 1,500 jobs in January from its augmented and virtual reality divisions.
Oracle is planning a large-scale reduction of 20,000 to 30,000 jobs to expand its AI data centre capacity, while Amazon has announced layoffs of 16,000 employees as part of its AI restructuring efforts.
India is among the most impacted regions, particularly in Oracle, where around 12,000 employees across cloud, healthcare, sales, and NetSuite divisions are expected to be affected.
Industry leaders have warned that many white-collar roles dependent on computer-based tasks could be automated within the next 12 to 18 months, further reshaping the future of work.
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