Posted on 02/11/2026 11:46:08 AM PST by fireman15
A New Report Says AI Layoffs Are Backfiring and Half of Companies Will Start Rehiring, Organizations are starting to come to terms with the limits of AI.
Businesses and workers are actively adopting artificial intelligence tools to automate various workplace tasks and boost their productivity in the process, surveys indicate. Still, managers should probably think twice about using the tech to replace employees anytime soon. Many companies that have swapped people for chatbots will be reversing course and hiring cut staffers back before long, according to top consultancy Gartner.
Recent studies have captured the significantly increased pace with which workplaces are adopting AI to automate redundant job tasks. For example, a McKinsey poll found 62 percent of businesses are at the very least testing the tech, while others are going much faster with fuller deployment. According to a November Gallup survey, 26 percent of employees said they used AI apps a few times per week or more in 2025, and 10 percent reported relying on them daily.
Yet, despite the continued penetration and use of those automating tools—and countless reports that they threaten to push employees out of their jobs—Gartner says the reality of AI’s effects on the workplace are far less dramatic than often billed. That disconnect starts with employment.
After sounding out a selection of its business customers, Gartner experts predicted 50 percent of responding companies “that attributed headcount reduction to AI will rehire staff to perform similar functions” by 2027. Although Gartner said those firms are likely to bring cut staffers back “under different job titles,” the anticipated backtracking won’t be fooling anyone.
(Excerpt) Read more at inc.com ...
Totally agree
I’m a horrible blank sheet type. Give me start and I can take it from there
The rise of AI is undeniably transforming the workforce, and with that transformation comes both opportunity and disruption. While some roles are being reduced or redefined due to automation, this shift also creates space for new skills, new industries, and new ways of working.
It’s important to approach this transition thoughtfully — supporting affected employees through reskilling, upskilling, and clear communication. Technology should enhance human potential, not simply replace it. With the right strategies in place, AI can become a tool for empowerment rather than displacement.
I called our trash service the other day during the snow, snow stops life in most of Oklahoma. All I asked is when we could expect pick-up. AI had to run for human help. Same thing happened the other day when i called about a freight delivery. I simply asked what size or kind of truck would be making the delivery.
Isn’t that the truth?
Bull makes the world go around and a lot of big investment decisions are based on just that, Bull. Yesterday’s sell recommendation becomes a Buy after the desired response is met and that desired response is not to sell but the drop to happen so another round can begin.
Most deals are cooked and over done by the time the little traders and even investors get in.
Most artificial stuff never tastes like the real thing and usually has some problem to go along with it.
Neither do Booze-Allen, Accenture, McKinsey, etc. They just fly cover for the management who should have asked their staff what to do in the first place.
I have seen people in those consultancy systems and client corporations hired to be liaison to the liaison.
They never do! They bring in these consultants so they have someone else to blame when it all goes wrong.
If you’re a big wheel in an organization and you have to bring consultants to tell you how to improve it. It means you don’t have a clue how you organization functions!
A few days ago I asked both perplexity.ai and grok.com to do the simplest of sorts, a table of the 60 Super Bowls in descending order of the winning team’s point total with the total score included.
Both sites botched the order. Grok recovered after the errors were pointed out, Perplexity said it couldn’t get the information needed to complete the task (!).
If you need to bring in consultants to tell you how to improve your business you don’t know your business, don’t know your people or didn’t hire very good ones you have confidence in.
When I was young and naive I made that statement out loud in some high company once when consultants were being discussed. I paid for it dearly until I went somewhere else. I only fully recovered when I started my own company and ran it very successfully for 20 years.
When I was young and naive I thought everyone just wanted to do a great job and all that stuff.
Old men are cynical for one very good reason. It is called experience.
With pre-planning meetings to discuss pre-planning meetings!
Same here! I was always flabbergasted how high muckety-mucks got into the positions they had. They seemed so clueless about their organizations! I used to walk around screaming in my head - “ HOW DID HE/SHE GET THIS JOB?”.
And a report from Harvard Business Review shows that companies are actually encouraging workers to use AI as a productivity tool so they can do their jobs more efficiently; no terminations take place.
What DOES happen is workers are then working more, some even working more hours or more intensely than before.
This is what happened to friends of mine. They were told point-blank they would not be terminated, that AI was a tool for them to use. And use they did, to the point of exhaustion as their behavior changed.
https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it
“Summary. One of the promises of AI is that it can reduce workloads so employees can focus more on higher-value and more engaging tasks. But according to new research, AI tools don’t reduce work, they consistently intensify it: In the study, employees worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day, often without being asked to do so. That may sound like a win, but it’s not quite so simple. These changes can be unsustainable, leading to workload creep, cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making. “
by keeping their head down and agreeing and never risking’
yes
Doing the opposite of what they tell you in management training classes!
While there likely is some truth in that... I am not sure that the jobs which are going to India would not be going to India already anyway. Customer support where you speak with a competent person located in the United States is becoming more and more rare. If you persist and finally make it through the labyrinth of the AI customer support answering system... these days you typically end up speaking with someone overseas.
I use most of the AI tools currently available. I have gotten back inaccurate and time-wasting results from even the most current models. This is why when people here prattle on about how AI bots are about to take over the world and that it is essential that we spend $Trillions more to win the AI race with China... I kind of have to roll my eyes.
The current state of AI is useful but limited in many ways.
If you have less company people, you need less HR DEI activists....
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