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AI Layoffs
Lately, CEOs have been eager to say artificial intelligence (AI) will help them reduce staff. The UK-based Standard Chartered’s Group CEO Bill Winters famously said a few weeks ago that this technology would eliminate the need for “lower value human capital.” He said the bank planned to cut support staff by about 15% over the next four years. That would amount to about 7,800 jobs, according to Bloomberg. He later apologized for his choice of words in a LinkedIn post. “I think the transcript makes it clear that I value our colleagues — all of them — most highly and that we are totally committed to helping them to cope with the accelerating pace of change in our industry,” he wrote.
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Block, which owns Cash App, wrote in a letter to shareholders earlier this year that Block was laying off roughly 40% of its staff because of “intelligence tools.”
Some headlines point to AI as the reason why young people struggle with higher levels of unemployment compared to more experienced workers. For example, researchers at Stanford Digital Economy Lab found a connection between occupations most exposed to AI and declines in employment in those industries for workers aged 22 to 25.
But there’s plenty of reasons to question the narrative around AI leading to job cuts. Evident AI, which tracks AI usage at big banks, has found that the billons of savings the banks have promised in AI layoffs haven’t been realized yet. JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest bank in the nation, has increased staffing levels by 8% since 2022, to 318,512 employees in 2025. Bank of America Corp., which has numerous patents and is investing in AI, says it is hiring the same number of summer interns this year as 2025.
Among smaller banks, not only is the pervasive trend not cutting back on workers, but the opposite is occurring. Bank Director’s 2026 Compensation & Talent Survey, which publishes Monday, found that 52% of banks increased employment levels in fiscal year 2025. Only 15% said they had cut back on staff.
This was less than the year before, when fully one quarter of respondents said they had cut staff. While it’s true that efficiencies in AI and gains from automation may allow some banks to grow faster with fewer staff, for most banks, we’re not quite there yet.
• Naomi Snyder, editor-in-chief for Bank Director
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