AI's Job Reckoning: Monday.com Joins 20+ Firms Citing Tech for Layoffs

The year 2026 has witnessed a significant wave of job cuts across the U.S. tech sector, with many companies explicitly citing artificial intelligence (AI) as a driving factor in their restructuring strategies. Monday.com, the Tel Aviv-based work management software company, became the latest to announce layoffs, cutting approximately 20% of its workforce, or over 600 employees. This move is part of a broader "restructuring plan" aligned with its "AI-driven growth strategy," aiming for a leaner and more focused operating model. Despite co-founder Eran Zinman stating the cuts were not to reduce costs or replace people with AI, but rather to adapt to an "AI-first vision," the announcement reflects a wider industry trend.

Overall, U.S. tech companies have slashed nearly 140,000 jobs since the start of 2026, with industry giants like Amazon, Oracle, Meta, and Microsoft alone accounting for almost 50,000 of these reductions. This substantial downsizing often coincides with massive investments, with hundreds of billions of dollars being funneled into AI data center buildouts. Interestingly, Financial Times analysis indicates that companies attributing job cuts to AI have seen their stock underperform the Nasdaq by nearly 10% in the 30 trading days following such announcements, suggesting a degree of market skepticism regarding these justifications.

However, the industry landscape is not uniformly bleak. While some firms are cutting, AI-focused companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI are rapidly expanding their teams, absorbing some of the talent displaced elsewhere. Furthermore, within some of the very companies making cuts, there's a discernible shift in headcount rather than an outright disappearance of roles. Meta, for instance, transitioned roughly 7,000 employees into new AI-focused positions even as it laid off 8,000 others. Similarly, IBM is tripling its entry-level hiring for AI and hybrid-cloud roles, even amid its recent workforce reductions.

A detailed look at major tech companies that have announced significant layoffs in 2026, with AI as a stated factor, reveals a consistent pattern:

Microsoft: In July 2026, Microsoft cut approximately 4,800 roles, or 2.1% of its global workforce, primarily within its Xbox gaming unit. While the company stated these roles were "not being replaced by AI," it acknowledged that "AI is changing how work gets done." CFO Amy Hood indicated an overall decline in headcount as the company prioritizes high-performing teams amidst rising AI investment. Earlier, between April and May 2026, Microsoft also offered buyouts structured as voluntary separations, further contributing to headcount reduction.

Oracle: In late June 2026, Oracle disclosed a reduction of 21,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce, over the preceding 12 months. The company explicitly stated that "the adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce." These cuts, which began as early as March 2026, saw savings redirected towards AI data centers, despite the company posting significant quarterly net income growth.

GitLab: In June 2026, GitLab laid off approximately 350 workers, about 14% of its staff. This move was aimed at funding AI infrastructure investment and managing surging traffic from AI workflows. CEO Bill Staples spoke of a "generational rebuild" of its core infrastructure to support 100x growth requirements, along with exiting 22 countries and flattening management layers. The company expects to incur $30 to $35 million in restructuring costs.

Google: Throughout May 2026 and ongoing, Alphabet's Google has quietly cut employees across its Cloud division, including its Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant-linked cybersecurity staff, even as Cloud revenue grew robustly. Google has reduced the number of managers overseeing small teams by 35% over the past year. These cuts have been implemented through rolling performance reviews, voluntary buyout programs, and structural reorganizations, with outside estimates for 2026 ranging from 1,500 to over 3,000 engineers.

Intuit: In May 2026, Intuit announced plans to eliminate approximately 3,000 jobs, representing about 17% of its total workforce. This restructuring is centered on reducing complexity and reallocating resources towards AI, with CEO Sasan Goodarzi emphasizing simplifying the company structure to deliver better products.

Meta: Between May 20 and 21, 2026, Meta laid off about 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce. Simultaneously, the company moved about 7,000 employees into new AI-focused roles. CEO Mark Zuckerberg underscored the necessity of these cuts, stating that "success isn't a given" in the competitive AI landscape.

Cisco: In May 2026, Cisco announced cuts of nearly 4,000 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce. CFO Mark Patterson clarified that this was not a cost-saving restructure but rather a realignment of resources around silicon, optics, security, and AI.

Cloudflare: Between May 7 and 8, 2026, Cloudflare cut about 20% of its workforce, or 1,100 people, despite reporting record quarterly revenue. CEO Matthew Prince noted that the "vast majority of those we laid off last week were measurers" – roles in middle management, finance, legal, internal auditing, and revenue recognition.

General Motors: In May 2026, GM eliminated 500 to 600 jobs, primarily in IT roles in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan. While AI was cited as a factor, it was not the sole reason, as the company aimed to transform its Information Technology organization for the future. Despite the cuts, GM maintained roughly 80 open IT positions, including roles in AI, motorsports, and autonomous vehicles.

Coinbase: In May 2026, the crypto exchange cut approximately 700 employees, or 14% of its staff, as part of a restructuring to address market volatility and boost AI efficiency. The company flattened its organizational structure and explored "one-person teams." CEO Brian Armstrong highlighted how AI had dramatically accelerated the pace of work, noting engineers using AI could ship in days what previously took weeks.

PayPal: In May 2026, PayPal announced plans to cut around 20% of its workforce, over 4,500 jobs, over the next two to three years. This is part of a turnaround strategy centered on aggressive AI adoption and organizational simplification. A new "AI transformation and simplification" team was formed to redesign processes across all functions, extending AI's application beyond coding into areas like customer service and risk management.

Snap: In April 2026, Snap reduced its global workforce by approximately 16%, cutting about 1,000 full-time employees and closing over 300 open roles. CEO Evan Spiegel stated that "Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers."

IBM: Throughout 2026, IBM has seen rolling reductions, with estimates ranging from 3,000 to 9,000 U.S. positions eliminated between Q4 2025 cuts and April 2026 Red Hat engineering reductions, bringing the cumulative total above 15,000 since September 2024. Despite these cuts, IBM plans to triple its U.S. entry-level hiring for AI and hybrid-cloud roles, notably replacing about 200 HR positions with AI agents.

Atlassian: In March 2026, Atlassian cut about 1,600 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, to "rebalance" towards AI and enterprise sales. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes acknowledged that while their approach isn't "AI replaces people," AI undeniably changes the required skill mix and the number of roles in certain areas.

Dell: By January 2026 (disclosed in March 2026), Dell's total workforce had fallen by approximately 11,000 jobs, or 10%, in fiscal 2026. These cuts came as Dell projected its AI-optimized server revenue could double in fiscal 2027.

Block: Between February 26 and 27, 2026, Jack Dorsey's Block cut 4,000 jobs, nearly half its workforce. Dorsey articulated that "intelligence tools...paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working," predicting similar structural changes across most companies within the next year.

Salesforce: In February 2026, Salesforce laid off fewer than 1,000 employees across various departments, including its Agentforce AI unit. The company cited the efficiencies of Agentforce in reducing customer support cases, thereby eliminating the need to backfill support engineer roles. This followed an earlier reduction of about 4,000 customer-support positions, with CEO Marc Benioff noting the need for "less heads" due to AI agents handling the work.

Amazon: In January 2026, Amazon cut 16,000 corporate jobs, following 14,000 cuts in October 2025, amounting to about 9% of its corporate workforce in three months. CEO Andy Jassy had projected that as more generative AI and agents are rolled out, it would change how work is done, leading to a reduction in the total corporate workforce due to AI-driven efficiency gains.

The ongoing trend of tech layoffs in 2026 underscores a profound industry transformation, where AI is not just an investment area but a catalyst for strategic restructuring, workforce reallocation, and a redefinition of operational efficiency across major technology companies.