I would like to state this in the beginning only that I am not against AI at all and the article might be a bit scary but I am only trying to present my perspective here.
The tech layoff numbers are increasing by the end of each day. Tech giants are advancing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) race rapidly and due to which it is anticipated that more layoffs are just around the corner.
CEOs around the world are pumping hundreds of Billions of Dollars in AI advancement and trying to re-structure their organizations’ working around AI. This has led to massive layoffs globally.
Lay-Off Trends
As per Trueup.io, 138,837 employees have been laid-off in 2026 so far. This translates to about 1,006 people being fired everyday.
Lay-off stats from some of the top tech giants -
- Meta - As per Reuters, Meta has laid-off around 8,000 employees in May 2026. The layoffs may not stop at this number because this is a part of multiple rounds/ series of layoffs that are expected to roll out over the next few years. Note that Meta had already fired over 2,000 employees so far in 2026.
- Oracle - Oracle laid-off around 30,000 employees globally this year. Not only this, but Oracle has also revoked some placement offers across IITs and other Engineering institutes in India. This includes offers for full-time roles made to Graduates and summer internship positions.
- Amazon - Amazon has laid-off about 16,000 employees so far in 2026. With more cuts are rumored to be introduced in coming months.
- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) - TCS laid-off around 8,000 employees around April this year.
I won’t name any, but some companies have even put hiring on freeze. This makes the whole scenario even more precarious!
These laid-off employees, almost all of them, are highly skilled in their domains. Some of them even have more than a decade of experience. I am not expecting all of them to become a plumber.
Now, among all this, Microsoft AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman gave a statement that is not very comforting -
“So white-collar work, where you’re sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer or an accountant or a project manager or a marketing person — most of those tasks will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18 months.”
But, where are heading after so many layoffs, total automation using AI. If Mustafa Suleyman is right then over 5 million jobs in India are at stake.
Mustafa Suleyman also said that he is working on Super Intelligence. And, not just him, other tech giants are also working on the same.
Now, just for a minute, think of it like this - we don’t even yet have a Super Intelligence but still almost all the white-collar jobs are at stake. And, when Super Intelligence arrives, what would be the situation?
Honestly, I am not very optimistic about it in terms of employment and living conditions of Humans.
Current Situation in India
Let’s take an example of one of the most demanding industries - Data Science. This is one of the most touted fields of these days. I was checking on Naukri.com (a job portal in India) and found that some of the job postings have over 20,000 applications.
This is the current situation in India. What’s going to happen if Mustafa Suleyman’s statement comes true?
I speak from my personal experience - Candidates, here in India, with a career gap or break are seen like they have committed some kind of a crime. You are expected to remain employed throughout your life; you can’t take a break. If you take then good luck getting a job because you are just not fighting competition, but you are fighting the psychology too.
India missed the AI race, totally. Once again, India remains to be just a consumer and tech-solutions built by the west. I am not against this. But, the issue that I am trying to highlight here is that they won’t be able to generate new employment opportunities and they are not innovating enough. Big Indian tech giants like TCS, Infosys, etc. we hardly hear anything related to AI advancements. Or Perhaps, these companies have a totally different perspective and business plan. However, if mere lay-offs are the plan to stay afloat, then I don’t think they are going to make it after the arrival of Super Intelligence.
- Most impacted industries in India - BPO and IT Services
- Least impacted Industries in India - Non-white collar jobs like Agriculture and healthcare
Who is the Consumer
If we fire all the humans and make the AI do all their jobs the who is the consumer here.
I have heard that Plumbers are safe, but for how long and how many can meet their ends needs by becoming plumbers. And, where would they have a job as a plumber anyway. Mass white-collar guys won’t be employed, so they will limit their spends and may ditch the urban lifestyle entirely due to no income.
As per Anthropic - these fields have potential AI applications but have not yet began to use AI like Agriculture
companies like that answer making website went to almost zero after LLMs and in India also, tech giants are feeling the heat of AI on stock market, share was trading at x on x date and now it is at xx rate.
Chegg’s share went to almost zero after LLMs came.
Upskilling, is it even an option here?
Data Science - People pursuing data science field have quiet a lot of skills but can they even beat AI?
Dashboards in Power BI can be made like Harry Potter swinged his magic wand and boom the fully functioning dashboard is there.
Graduates from tier-3 or from colleges that people are not even bothered to classify in tiers, where are they going to go. Small companies have this fantastic opportunity to hire the newly laid-off employees as they are very skilled, possess relevant experience and now they are desperately looking for a job and some are even ready to work for even lesser or match the salary of lower tier college graduates.
I am not saying that AI is wrong, but I am only worried about the future in terms of employment, economy and living condition of not-so-rich or service class people.
I have not written this opinion to scare anyone. This is just my opinion and if I am wrong at any point then please correct me and I will correct my mistakes.
a lot of tools are going to go away - they charge but AI is just way too smart and will do it like it is nothing for it. like that answering website.
Vikrant Malik
Founder