Have you ever seen a company lay off tens of thousands of people while announcing billions in investments? Microsoft did it this year, and it's not the only one. Mid-2025 and the tech sector has already eliminated more than 94.000 jobs, but this time the layoff numbers tell a completely different story than in the past.
It's not about economic crisis or difficulties: These companies are recording the highest profits in their history. This is something much more disturbing. Artificial intelligence has begun to replace human labor on an industrial scale, and no one seems to want to admit it openly. The truth is that every day more than 500 tech workers are losing their jobs not because of incompetence or market crisis, but because an algorithm can do their job for free.
Big Tech Layoffs: The Numbers of a Global Reorganization
The data for 2025 is merciless. According to the independent tracker Layoffs.fyi, which tracks layoffs in the global technology sector, we are already at 94.000 jobs eliminated in just six months. But that's not all: these numbers represent only the tip of the iceberg of a phenomenon that is reshaping the labor market on a global scale.
The ranking of “big layoffs” sees at the top the same companies that are leading the race for artificial intelligence. Microsoft has cut over 15.000 positions while investing $80 billion in AI development. Amazon eliminated 16.000 jobs, Google 12.000 Meta 10.000. These are not random numbers: they represent a precise strategy of technological replacement of human labor.
The most emblematic case is that of IBM, which has laid off 8.000 human resources employees replacing them completely with the system AskHR, a conversational agent which automates 94% of routine tasks. “Our total number of employees has actually increased,” said the CEO Arvind krishna, “because AI has allowed us to invest more in other areas.” A phrase that sounds like a mockery to those who have lost their jobs, but which reveals the ruthless logic of this transformation.
Europe is not immune: from Germany to Italy
The phenomenon does not spare Europe, where layoffs follow similar dynamics but often with greater media discretion. SAP, the German software giant, has announced 8.000 workforce cuts in the context of what the company defines as a “supercazzolen”
“transforming the operational setup to maximize organizational synergies, thanks to AI-driven efficiency”.
In Italy, the situation is equally worrying. IBM Italy has announced the dismissal of 85 employees, reducing the workforce in the country to 2.368 units. A decrease that follows a trend that began years ago: between 2019 and 2020, the company had already eliminated about 1.000 jobs in our country.
OpenText has officially announced 1.200 layoffs, 2% of the total workforce. UiPath has planned a reduction of 420 units, 10% of its staff. Each announcement is accompanied by the same semantics, not to say rhetoric: “optimization,” “efficiency,” “strategic transformation.” Words that hide a painful reality for thousands of families.
Professions under fire: from HR to software development
The first victims of this wave were the functions considered "automatable". The departments human resources have been decimated: routines such as processing holidays, managing pay slips, consulting employee documentation are now managed entirely by AI systems.
even the customer service is undergoing a radical transformation. Klarna has cut its workforce by about 1.000 people after rolling out virtual assistants that perform tasks previously done by hundreds of human operators. Chegg, the education platform, has cut 240 positions (22% of its staff) because many students now prefer to use tools like ChatGPT instead of the company's paid services.
But the surprise comes from the sector that seemed safest: the software development. Microsoft reports that Tools like GitHub Copilot are writing up to 30% of new code, dramatically reducing the need for junior programmers and technical support.
The “paradox” of record profits
The most disconcerting thing about this wave of layoffs is that it comes at a time of exceptional economic health for the tech sector. Microsoft posted revenues of $70,1 billion in the first quarter of 2025, with an increase of 13% over the previous year. Amazon saw sales grow 11%, reaching $158,9 billion, with an increase in operating income of 55,6%.
“We are not facing layoffs related to the financial situation of the company,” explained a source inside Microsoft, “but rather an optimization of the executives.” A euphemism that hides an uncomfortable truth: these companies are discovering that they can maintain or even increase profits with far fewer human workers.
Layoffs, what happens to humans?
Behind every statistic there are real people, families, life plans turned upside down. The phenomenon is also creating a worrying domino effect: IT job postings in the US have dropped by 70% compared to peaks. This means that not only are jobs being lost, but far fewer new ones are being created.
Katherine Wong, an eight-month-pregnant Google employee, found out she had been fired a month into her maternity leave when she opened her email inbox. Similar scenes have been repeated around the world, from Meta employees who found out they had been fired because their badge no longer worked at the turnstiles, to Microsoft engineers who received the communication via Teams. Futuro Prossimo has an open channel with Amazon employees (who often ask to remain anonymous), and in recent months similar stories have also arrived from Bezos' company. We are here, however, for everyone. Write to us, we will listen to you.
Towards an uncertain but not necessarily apocalyptic future
It would be easy to fall into alarmism, but the reality is more nuanced. Artificial intelligence is indeed replacing some categories of jobs, but it is also creating new ones. The same companies that are laying off people are also hiring: Meta, Google e Salesforce have opened hundreds of positions for AI experts in recent months.
The problem is that this transition is happening at an inhuman speed, without allowing the necessary time for professional retraining. As I pointed out in this article, AI is often used as a scapegoat for bad business decisions. But this time, the data suggests that the link between AI and layoffs is much more direct and structural.
Big Tech Layoffs: The Need for New Rules
2025 is showing us that integrating AI into the workplace is no longer a question of “if,” but of “how.” According to the World Economic Forum, the AI could eliminate 85 million jobs by 2025, simultaneously creating 97 million new ones linked to the digital economy (. Of course, from a media perspective it is easier to see layoffs than hirings, but it is also true that in terms of human employment it is a mockery today to talk about an “expansion phase”.
The challenge is not to stop technological progress, but to manage it so that it does not leave hundreds of thousands of people behind. We need policies of professional retraining, stronger social safety nets, and perhaps (indeed, above all) an honest debate about how to redistribute the benefits of this new efficiency.
Because in the end, behind every algorithm that replaces a worker, there is always a human being who must reinvent his or her life. And no artificial intelligence will ever be able to do this for him or her.
