Analysis
Monday.com became the latest company added to TechCrunch's running list of tech firms citing AI or automation as a factor in 2026 layoffs, joining more than 20 other companies including Oracle, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Intuit, Cisco and Block. Across the full year, roughly 170,945 workers have been affected by layoff events at 173 companies that explicitly named AI, automation or machine learning as a driving factor, according to tracking data -- and the share of all 2026 layoff events citing AI has risen sharply, from about 7% in January to roughly 40% by May.
The scale of the broader cut is significant on its own: U.S. tech companies have eliminated nearly 140,000 jobs since the start of the year, with Amazon, Oracle, Meta and Microsoft alone accounting for close to 50,000 of those reductions, even as those same four companies pour hundreds of billions of dollars into AI data center buildouts. Oracle's roughly 30,000-role reduction remains the single largest tech layoff recorded in 2026.
“Oracle's roughly 30,000-role reduction remains the single largest tech layoff recorded in 2026.”
Not everyone takes the stated rationale at face value. Deutsche Bank analysts have specifically flagged what they call "AI redundancy washing" -- companies attributing layoffs to AI and automation when the real drivers are more mundane: overhiring during the 2021-2022 boom, softening revenue, or straightforward cost-cutting pressure that predates any specific AI deployment. The speed at which the AI-cited share of layoffs jumped, from 7% to 40% in just five months, is itself a reasonable basis for skepticism, since it implies AI capability improved fast enough to displace workers at a pace far outstripping the technology's actual, observable rate of advancement.
For founders and operators, Monday.com joining the list is less a story about one company's headcount decision and more confirmation that "we're restructuring around AI" has become the default explanation tech companies reach for regardless of the underlying cause -- a framing that makes it harder for investors and workers alike to assess whether AI adoption is actually driving the productivity gains company statements imply.
What to watch: whether independent productivity data at AI-citing companies actually shows the gains implied by their stated rationale, whether the AI-cited share of layoffs keeps climbing past 40% through the second half of the year, and whether regulators or labor groups push back on companies using AI as blanket cover for unrelated workforce reductions.
