Who’s Next?

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In 2026, the logic of layoffs in Silicon Valley has fundamentally changed.

In the past, when your boss fired you, they might say it was due to business adjustments or organizational optimization, giving you some dignity. Now, they’re starting to tell the truth: it’s because AI is more valuable than you.

Network infrastructure company Cloudflare saw a 600% surge in AI usage over three months, only to lay off 1,100 people. Even more ruthless was logistics software company WiseTech, which laid off 30% of its workforce in one go, declaring that the era of manual coding is dead.

What’s more emotionally complex than being laid off is the situation of those actively using AI.

The survivors who were lucky enough to stay found that instead of a termination letter, their boss handed them a “knife”: to train AI themselves and then eliminate their own colleagues.

From San Francisco to New York, across tech companies, financial industries, and retail sectors, a structural workplace purge driven by AI is unfolding. This is no longer a cyclical downturn; it’s a total assault by AI on human jobs.

And you might be sitting at your desk, trembling as the “executioner,” wondering: Am I next?...

2026 Layoffs: An AI-Driven, Industry-Wide Structural Reshuffle

The layoffs at Cloudflare and WiseTech are just the tip of the iceberg in the 2026 reshuffle.

The 2026 layoff map extends far beyond these Silicon Valley stars. From tech to finance, retail to logistics, beauty to beer, a structural reshuffle in the name of AI efficiency is sweeping the business world.

Let’s start with the tech industry.

Amazon announced another 16,000 corporate job cuts in January, its second round of large-scale cuts in six months.

Meta slashed departments like Reality Labs and Facebook in March, shedding legacy projects from the metaverse era while pouring hundreds of billions into AI.

Dell cut 10% of its workforce for the third consecutive year, reducing its headcount by another 11,000.

Enterprise software giant Oracle, e-commerce platform eBay, and online travel company Expedia also quietly optimized hundreds or thousands of positions in the same quarter.

Game developer Epic Games (parent company of Fortnite) laid off 20%.

Customer service software company Freshworks, while laying off 11%, admitted that about half of its code is now generated by AI. Enterprise collaboration giant Atlassian (owner of Jira, Confluence, and other products) laid off 1,600 people and announced a complete organizational restructuring around AI.

Image-sharing platform Pinterest, under the banner of an AI-first strategy, laid off nearly 15% of its workforce.

And this wave has long spilled out of Silicon Valley.

Banking giant Citigroup is advancing a long-term layoff plan totaling 20,000 positions, calling it an adjustment “aligned with current business needs.”

Logistics giant UPS is even more dramatic, planning to cut 30,000 operational jobs and close 24 buildings by 2026.

Retail giant Target laid off 500 people from regional offices and supply chains, redirecting resources to store improvements.

Traditional consumer goods are not spared either.

Beauty conglomerate Estée Lauder expanded layoffs to up to 10,000 positions, two-thirds of which are cashiers and demonstrators at counters and department stores.

Sportswear brand Nike has conducted two rounds of layoffs this year, cutting more than 2,000 positions, explicitly stating its intent to accelerate the use of advanced technologies and automation.

Health consumer goods giant Kenvue (maker of Tylenol, Band-Aid, and other brands) plans to cut 3.5% of its workforce.

Beer giant Heineken has also laid out plans to cut 5,000–6,000 positions over the next two years.

Even pizza chain Papa Johns, luxury department store parent company Saks, and action camera maker GoPro have joined the 2026 layoff list.

According to Business Insider, over 100 companies, from Amazon and Nike to telecom giant Verizon, have filed notices related to 2026 layoffs.

A World Economic Forum survey shows that about 41% of companies globally expect to lay off employees due to AI within the next five years.

All this indicates that this year’s layoffs are no longer just a correction from post-pandemic overexpansion or a temporary contraction due to a capital winter.

In 2026, companies are recalculating with AI: a super-individual who can use tools can replace a past team. Thus, the disappearance of many roles may no longer be cyclical but structural.

AI Boosts Efficiency but Fuels Anxiety: Am I Helping the Company Lay Off Who?

What’s more emotionally complex than layoffs themselves is that many employees find they are building the tools to replace themselves.

PR professional Matt Pressberg experienced this emotional shift. He developed an AI agent, Maria, for his company to help write promotional copy and manage emails. Like a high-energy intern, it made the small team more efficient.

But then, a large PR firm approached him, hoping to replicate a similar system to reduce its workforce. At that moment, the nature of the tool changed. It was no longer just a work aid but a tool for job cuts.

Pressberg described the feeling as: You can choose to get on the horse or be trampled by it, but it’s hard to just sit by and watch the race.

This accurately summarizes the reality for many professionals today. Because by now, most employees lack the freedom to not use AI. More and more companies have begun incorporating AI usage rates into performance systems. Executives require employees to learn Prompt, integrate Agents, optimize workflows, and increase automation. Not using AI is starting to be seen as a sign of inefficiency.

At the same time, many subtly realize that their process of improving efficiency may be reducing the future headcount needs of their teams. This contradiction is becoming a new form of workplace anxiety.

This sentiment is especially pronounced in knowledge-based industries like the internet, finance, consulting, and media. Many employees are developing a sense of survivor’s guilt.

Some find that by actively embracing AI, they become the team’s AI expert, only to watch colleagues get laid off. Others begin to suspect that the automated processes they’re building are essentially preparations for future layoffs. Still, others worry that once the company fully masters these systems, they’ll be the next to be optimized.

This psychological impact is more complex than traditional layoffs. Because traditional layoffs are usually company decisions, with employees as passive recipients. Now, many feel a sense of participation and responsibility. They feel they’re not just bystanders but possibly even facilitators.

Organizational psychologist Constance Noonan Hadley mentioned that when people are forced to participate in a system that harms their peers, cognitive dissonance arises. Especially when the long-term benefits of AI remain uncertain, this unease grows. Because no one knows whether laying off so many people today will lead to genuine sustained growth for the company in the future.

AI Eats Entry-Level Roles: Who Will Take Over in a Decade?

While AI is causing job losses, it’s also rewriting how companies operate.

In the past, companies believed more people and larger organizations meant higher efficiency. But AI is making more and more companies realize that fewer people can accomplish what large teams once did.

Cloudflare began restructuring processes and roles. Meta laid off employees while increasing AI investment.

Behind this is the same trend: companies are shifting from human-driven to technology-driven operations.

And this is exactly what excites investors: AI is redefining profit margins.

British entrepreneur James Buckley-Thorp, when developing an AI insurance platform, aimed to reduce multiple roles in insurance processes. He straightforward (bluntly stated) that one of venture capital’s top concerns is whether labor can be reduced.

This is highly attractive to capital markets but represents immense structural pressure for traditional workplaces.

Because the modern white-collar system is essentially built on hierarchical collaboration: entry-level employees execute, middle management coordinates, and senior leadership decides. AI is now eroding both the execution and coordination layers.

When Agents start automatically handling emails, generating reports, arranging processes, and calling systems, many intermediate steps lose meaning. Companies may increasingly resemble a structure of a superbrain plus a few executors.

Many may not lose their jobs to AI immediately, but career growth paths may be disappearing.

In the past, a young person could grow into a manager through several years of foundational work. But now, many roles being replaced by AI are precisely the career training layers—junior analysts, assistants, researchers, junior programmers. These roles not only handle specific tasks but also train future leaders.

If the entire industry keeps cutting entry-level roles, a gap may emerge in the future: no new recruits will gain experience through repetitive training, and no next generation of managers and core talent will be developed.

This may be the hidden and dangerous consequence of the 2026 layoff wave: while AI saves companies money, it’s quietly hollowing out their future frameworks. As everyone rushes to ride the AI horse forward, few ask: In a decade, who will take the reins?

Article Information Sources:

Companies laying off staff this year include Meta, Amazon, and Coinbase — see the list, Business Insider; The accidental job executioners, by Emily Stewart, Business Insider.

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