Work Guru Says Firms Blaming AI for Layoffs Are Really Driven by Fear

Companies blaming generative AI for layoffs may be missing the real story.

Thomas Roulet, a professor of organizational sociology and leadership at the University of Cambridge, said in a LinkedIn post on Sunday that while firms, especially in tech and professional services, are pointing to generative AI as the reason for a recent spate of job cuts, the real driver is fear of making the wrong move.

“We hear a lot about firms laying off workers while blaming GenAI,” he wrote, “but the broader perspective is that firms are reluctant to make any HR decisions with such a high level of uncertainty.”

That hesitation, he added, could have long-term effects on how workers build wealth.

“It will also certainly affect career mobility, which is an important aspect of human capital development,” he said.

Expanding on his comments, Roulet told Business Insider that the freeze in HR decisions goes far beyond AI hype.

“We read a lot about firms laying off workers, but the broader reality — especially in the US — is to ‘freeze’ HR,” he said, citing uncertainty in geopolitics and tariffs, the impact of AI on workers and job design, and financial instability due to government debt.

He said hiring and firing are the most affected decisions, but the same hesitation applies to promotions, pay rises, and lateral hires.

“If firms cannot offer workers opportunities to grow, then motivation will be affected,” Roulet said, adding that in a “low-hire economy, people are stuck in jobs where they can’t experience growth.”

Roulet also pushed back on executives who justify cuts as a way to “future-proof” their companies.

“Future-proofing a workforce for the AI ​​era should be about retraining them and opening up new opportunities for learning and agile careers,” he said.

“Trimming roles or slowing hiring only makes sense once the firm knows exactly what activities can be taken over by AI,” he said.

“In many cases, the trimming is still wishful thinking. In reality, this adaptation requires a lot of trial and error.”

Layoffs across industries for different reasons

Roulet’s comments come as companies across industries, especially in tech and professional services, are offering starkly different rationales for layoffs.

At AI-first shops, cuts are framed as retooling for AI.

Elon Musk’s xAI shrank its generalist data-annotation ranks by a third while “surging” specialist AI tutor roles by 10 times to train Grok, while Snorkel AI trimmed 13% of its employees as it “deprioritized some legacy areas” and protected most AI jobs.

Big Tech, meanwhile, often pairs reductions with an AI pivot or discipline push.

Microsoft and Salesforce cut staff while hiring for AI-focused products; Meta is explicitly “raising the bar on performance” and moving out what it calls “low performers,” while Workday and HPE say reductions align cost structures with an AI-centric strategy.

By contrast, some professional-services firms cite workforce dynamics rather than tech.

PwC laid off about 2% of its US workforce in May due to “historically low” attrition, which leaves too few natural exits.

And in the AI ​​infrastructure and data-labeling niche, Scale AI’s cuts were tied to overhiring, profitability, and shifting customer dynamics.