TLDR
- Bank of America says nearly 1 in 4 jobs globally — around 838 million — are exposed to generative AI
- Higher-income countries face the highest exposure at 33.5% of jobs
- In Q1 2026, 86 tech companies laid off over 80,000 workers — the most in three years
- Meta plans to cut 10% of staff in May; Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts
- Experts say many layoffs are blamed on AI, but overhiring during COVID and rising interest rates are key factors
Bank of America, citing International Labour Organization data, says roughly 838 million jobs worldwide are exposed to generative AI. That works out to about one in four jobs globally.
Younger workers, women, and higher-educated employees face the most exposure. High-income countries see the highest share, with 33.5% of jobs at risk. In low-income nations, that figure drops to just 11%.
BofA economists say wealthier economies are best placed to gain from AI productivity. But they added that firms leading the AI buildout will likely take a disproportionate share of those gains.
Economists have pushed back on fears of mass unemployment. They point to history — from the Industrial Revolution to the internet age — as evidence that new jobs tend to emerge after technological disruption.
A Goldman Sachs report backs this up with data. Researchers tracked more than 20,000 Americans born between the 1950s and 1980s and found that workers displaced by technology did face real economic pain — but not permanent collapse.
Those workers took about a month longer to find new jobs. They also saw real earnings drop by 3% after re-employment. Over the following decade, their earnings grew nearly 10 percentage points less than workers who never lost a job.
Goldman called this “occupational downgrading” — where a worker’s skills lose market value, pushing them into lower-paying roles.
The Tech Layoff Wave
In Q1 2026, 86 tech companies cut more than 80,000 jobs. That’s up sharply from Q1 2025, when 103 companies laid off around 30,000. It’s the highest quarterly layoff figure in three years.
Meta announced plans in April to cut 10% of its workforce in May. Microsoft sent out a memo offering voluntary buyouts to around 7% of staff. Other companies cutting jobs in 2026 include Spotify, Oracle, and Quora.
Many of these companies have cited AI as the reason for cuts. In March, AI was listed as the leading cause of U.S. layoffs, accounting for 25% of job cuts.
Is AI Really to Blame?
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at a BlackRock event in March that companies are using AI as a cover for layoffs. “Almost every company that does layoffs is blaming AI, whether or not it really is about AI,” he said. This practice has been called “AI washing.”
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen pointed to two other factors: the near-zero interest rates during the pandemic and the overhiring that followed. He estimates many large companies are overstaffed by 25% to 75%.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney was direct when cutting over 1,000 jobs: “The layoffs aren’t related to AI.”
The BofA report did not specify a timeline for when AI exposure might translate into actual job losses.
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