The robots coming for our jobs will also help fire us

Artificial intelligence has infiltrated decision-making on hiring, training and evaluations. Now it is creeping into the layoff process as well.

- Beth Kowitt

For those who take a sadistic pleasure in looking for evidence that we are creeping closer to a dystopian future where humans are ruled by their robot overlords, consider this possible nightmare scenario: Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only coming for your job, but will have a hand in laying you off, too.

Al has already infiltrated multiple parts of the human resources process, from hiring to onboarding to training to evaluating. It is not a huge stretch to think that in an efficiency-obsessed sector like technology, tools designed to streamline decision-making are now making their way into layoffs. The conditions here are ripe for it: Tech's nearly 42,000 job cuts in January were the second-highest on record for the sector, according to data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

One of the reasons we know there is a movement towards automating parts of so-called "workforce reduction" is because human resources executives have admitted to it: A report in January from Capterra, an arm of tech industry research firm Gartner, found that 98 per cent of the HR leaders it surveyed said they would at least somewhat rely on software and algorithms to reduce labour costs in a 2023 recession.