A work management software company known for its colorful project boards has included "AI" in the reason for layoffs this week. Based in Tel Aviv, Monday.com stated in a SEC filing on Wednesday that it will lay off about 20% of its employees, just over 600 people, as part of a "restructuring plan" linked to its "ongoing transformation of product, marketing, and go-to-market strategies," to support a "more streamlined and focused operating model." The company is also continuing to invest in its "AI-driven growth strategy." Co-founder Eran Zinman expressed this adjustment more politely in a LinkedIn memo: this change was "not to cut costs or replace people with AI," but to adapt to the AI-first vision proposed about a year ago. The company has two offices in the U.S., and the estimated cost of the restructuring is between $45 million and $55 million. However, the company still expects revenue to grow by up to 20% in 2026.

Zooming out, Monday.com is just the latest ripple in this wave. According to the Financial Times, nearly 140,000 employees have been laid off by U.S. tech companies so far this year, with Amazon, Oracle, Meta, and Microsoft accounting for nearly 50,000 of those. Meanwhile, these companies are investing thousands of billions of dollars into AI data centers. The Financial Times also identified an intriguing signal: companies citing AI as the reason for layoffs underperformed the Nasdaq by an average of 10% within 30 trading days of their announcements — indicating the market is not entirely convinced. Not all news is negative: AI-native companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI are rapidly hiring; Meta moved about 7,000 people into AI roles (while laying off 8,000); and IBM said it has tripled entry-level hiring in AI and hybrid cloud directions.

Looking back along the timeline, the list of big companies citing AI as a public factor in their layoffs is growing longer.

Microsoft laid off about 4,800 people on July 9, which accounted for 2.1% of its global workforce, mostly in the Xbox gaming division — a reset after three years of acquiring Activision Blizzard. The company also offered undisclosed numbers of voluntary exit buyouts. The official statement was that these positions were "not replaced by AI," but that "AI is changing how work is done." CFO Amy Hood noted that the total number of employees dropped year-over-year in the third quarter and expected further declines.

Oracle disclosed on June 22 that it had reduced its workforce by 21,000 people (a 13% decrease) over the past 12 months — far more than previously known. Its annual regulatory filing was direct: "The adoption and deployment of AI technology across our operations have already led, and may continue to lead, to a reduction in our workforce." Looking back from March 5 to 31, Oracle used email to notify employees of layoffs. In that quarter, its net income was $3.7 billion (up 27% year-over-year), and its remaining performance obligations surged 325% to $553 billion, with the savings directed into AI data centers.

GitLab laid off about 350 people (14%) on June 3 to fund AI infrastructure and manage the traffic surge from AI workflows. It exited 22 countries, flattened its management hierarchy, and partnered with an AI lab to rebuild its platform. CEO Bill Staples said that intelligent agent workloads are pushing competitors "to the edge," prompting the company to launch a "generational rebuild" to support a hundredfold growth. Its first-quarter revenue was $264 million (up 23%), with restructuring costs ranging from $30 million to $35 million.

Google's layoffs extended through May 2026, focusing on the Cloud division — including threat intelligence teams and cybersecurity personnel linked to Mandiant. Through rolling performance reviews, buyouts, and reorganization, it is estimated that between 1,500 and 3,000 engineers will be laid off by 2026. Ironical, Cloud revenue jumped 63% year-over-year to exceed $20 billion, and backlogged orders nearly doubled to over $46 billion. In the past year, the company also cut more than one-third of small team managers (a 35% drop in manager count), though the total number was not disclosed.

Intuit laid off about 3,000 people (17%) on May 20. CEO Sasan Goodarzi said this was to reduce complexity and simplify structures to deliver better products, with a focus on shifting toward AI. Meta laid off about 8,000 people (10%) between May 20 and 21, while moving around 7,000 into AI roles (reportedly causing employee backlash). Zuckerberg's reason was that "success with AI is not guaranteed."

Cisco laid off nearly 4,000 people (5%) on May 14, despite record financial results. CFO Mark Patterson explained that this "wasn't a cost-cutting restructuring, but a reallocation of resources around chips, optical modules, security, and AI." Cloudflare laid off about 20% (1,100 people) on May 7-8, with the quarter's revenue reaching $639.8 million (up 34%) — also a record. CEO Matthew Prince said the people laid off last week were "mostly measurers" — middle-management, finance, legal, internal audit, and revenue recognition roles.

General Motors laid off 500 to 600 IT staff in Austin and Warren on May 12. AI was one of the factors, but not the only one. The statement said it was "transforming its information technology organization," while retaining about 80 IT open positions (including AI roles). Coinbase laid off about 700 people (14%) on May 5, flattening its hierarchy down to five levels below CEO/COO. It experimented with "one-person teams." CEO Brian Armstrong said AI allows "engineers to complete work that took a team weeks in just days," and that "AI needs to be leveraged at every step." PayPal announced on the same day that it would lay off about 20% (over 4,500 people) over the next two to three years. CEO Enrique Lores emphasized the need for "aggressive AI adoption" and established a new "AI Transformation and Simplification" team reporting directly to the CEO.

Microsoft also conducted an undisclosed voluntary buyout in April and May, with the CFO stating that the decline in headcount stemmed from increasing AI investments. Snap laid off about 1,000 people (16%) and closed 300 positions on April 16. CEO Evan Spiegel said that "the rapid progress in AI has allowed our teams to reduce repetitive work and increase speed," with small teams using AI already showing positive results. IBM's layoffs spanned 2026, with Red Hat engineering cuts in Q4 2025 and April 2026, estimating 3,000 to 9,000 U.S. positions affected. Since September 2024, over 15,000 employees have been laid off, with about 200 HR positions replaced by AI bots. Bloomberg reported that IBM plans to triple entry-level hiring in AI and hybrid cloud roles, while a spokesperson referred to Q4 2025 as a routine rebalancing.

Atlassian laid off about 1,600 people (10%) on March 11, shifting focus to AI and enterprise sales. Its stock price increased by 2%. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes stated: "Our approach is not 'AI replacing people,' but pretending AI doesn't change staffing is not honest." Dell cut its workforce by about 10% (about 11,000 people) to 97,000 in fiscal year 2026 (disclosed in March), with severance costs of $569 million. It expects AI-optimized server revenue to double in the 2027 fiscal year. Block laid off 4,000 people (nearly half, leaving less than 6,000) on February 26-27. Jack Dorsey said, "We've seen smart tools create a new way of working," and that most companies will follow within a year.

Salesforce laid off fewer than 1,000 people (marketing, product, data analysis, Agentforce AI) on February 10. It had already laid off 4,000 customer service roles (from 9,000 to 5,000). It told Fortune that thanks to Agentforce, "we saw a decline in customer service demand, no longer needing to proactively hire." Benioff explicitly stated that AI bots are doing the work, so "there are fewer heads."

Amazon laid off 16,000 company positions on January 28 (including 14,000 in October 2025), accounting for about 9% of its workforce within three months. CEO Andy Jassy had already warned in June 2025 that as generative AI expands, "fewer people will do some jobs... our total company headcount will decrease."

From Amazon's 16,000 at the start of the year to Monday.com's 600 in the summer, AI has cut through almost every major company in 2026. Each item on the list repeats the same underlying message: models are getting smarter, and headcounts are decreasing. Meanwhile, the market continues to cast its own skeptical votes through stock prices.