AI's Silent Slaughter: Corporations' Ruthless Plot to Erase Jobs and Evade Backlash

How Tech Titans Are Ditching Workers for Bots While Gaslighting the World

Most of you know that I speak and write about AI and how it will affect jobs. Personally, there is a part of me that believes many jobs will be lost, but newer ones will emerge. However, I also think that there won't be that many jobs available for everyone even after upskilling.

Many people won't be able to take on these new roles, and even if they do, it would be at lower salaries than their current salaries. I think it will end up being a take it or leave it move from companies.

The scary part is that many people are unaware of the job losses and the changes that are already on the horizon. We are looking at the next 5 years, according to most experts.

However, in my books, I believe it has already started. Corporate entities have been telling us not to worry, we are like the boy who cried wolf, but they are protecting themselves from the backlash.

Remember how they told us Don’t worry, AI won’t be taking our jobs anytime soon? Well, Surprise, surprise, they have been lying, it’s here. This article will prove to you how they have been lying intentionally.

Let's sell them the dream.

I want you to picture this: a tech giant unveils a dazzling AI tool, promising to revolutionize how we work and how much free time we will have to take on bigger, more audacious projects that will get you and me our next promotion.

The crowd cheers, and stocks soar, and the CEO beams on stage and sees his bank account take on a couple of zeros at the end of his bank balance. But backstage, thousands of workers are handed pink slips, their jobs now done by a system, an algorithm, a bot that won’t complain, need vacations, promotions, and raises.

Is this a page out of science fiction? Not at all, it’s happening right now, right under our noses, and companies are pulling every trick in the book to hide these AI-driven downsizing.

The question is why?

The reason is their lie that AI will not be taking our jobs anytime soon. Admitting they’re replacing humans with AI would spark a backlash that tanks not only their reputation but eventually their bottom line. So how are they orchestrating this vanishing act?

It’s all in the “words”. Their wordplay is what they love to use to place a blindfold over our eyes. When was the last time you heard a company flat-out say, “We’re firing people because of AI”

Never, right? Instead, they play with words like “we are undergoing a strategic restructuring” or “workforce optimization.” Or “Digitalization” or “improving productivity to make us more agile.”  It’s wordplay, and they’re champs at it.

Take Klarna, the Swedish fintech company that in 2024 slashed over 1,000 jobs, which amounted to 10% of its global workforce. In this move, AI took over 700 full-time staff of their customer service unit.

The biggest surprise is how they worded their press release. They said the move was to improve “operational efficiency” and “pioneer innovation.” There wasn’t a peep about how they replaced their workers with chatbots.

UPS played a similar game by cutting 20,000 jobs as it rolled out AI for its logistics and route optimization division. Their excuse was that they were “streamlining supply chains” and “elevating the customer experience.”

We should give these companies awards for the wordplay they use. Their tactics are straight out of the corporate playbook: try to reframe layoffs as a bold step in improving the future with efficiency, and the public stays none the wiser.

The audacity is almost admirable. This is what I like to call the AI Hype Train, which Companies use as their secret weapon to distract people from their layoffs.

When Microsoft axed 6,000 workers earlier this year, they bragged about their AI-driven coding tools, which improved efficiency, showing us that algorithms now write 30% of its code. The message was clear: “Marvel at our tech wizardry!” but what about the 6000 who lost their jobs?

Classic misdirection, dangling something shiny, and nobody notices the workers slipping out the back door. This works because AI is still the darling of investors and the media. Stock prices keep climbing, analysts swoon, and the public falls for it hook, line, and sinker.

Google pulled a similar stunt, trimming its ad division while hyping AI-powered customer care. The backlash? None, because the narrative was all about innovation, not unemployment.

I’ve seen this firsthand in the Hi-Tech Organizations I worked for and now in tech circles, executives know a good story can bury a grim reality.

Going into Stealth Mode. The Quiet Cuts 

The irony is that at least the Companies mentioned above tried to hide the downsizings. However, some companies don’t even bother.

Dukaan, an Indian e-commerce platform, replaced 90% of its customer support staff with an in-house chatbot, slashing costs by 85%.

Did you see it on CNN or any other media outlet? Nope.

The news trickled out through obscure industry reports and social media.

This is corporate “quiet quitting” at its best; silent, surgical, and built to evade scrutiny.

Blue Focus, a Chinese marketing firm, took stealth to another level. After partnering with Microsoft Azure’s AI tools, it quietly ended contracts for writers and designers. No press release was made, no LinkedIn post, just a swift pivot to AI.

These shadow moves are deliberate. Companies know that publicizing AI-driven layoffs risks outrage, so they keep it hush-hush, letting the truth surface long after the damage is done.

Pointing Fingers at the Economy, Not AI 

Another scapegoat is the economy. Intuit laid off 1,800 employees in 2024, blaming the economy. Digging deeper showed that AI is automating tax preparation and customer support.

This tactic is everywhere. Cisco’s 5,900 job cuts in 2024 were because of “market softness,” not its AI-driven networking solutions. Best Buy pointed to declining sales, conveniently ignoring its new AI venture with Google Cloud and Accenture.

The economy is the perfect fall guy.

Let's use Upskilling to save our skin.

Upskilling, the Optical illusion that is the shield against backlash. Companies love using this “But we are helping our workers” card.

IKEA did this while phasing out call center jobs with its AI bot named Billie. They didn’t use the just cut and run strategy but offered an “upskilling” program for affected employees.

Sounds really noble, doesn’t it? However, after digging into their upskilling program, it was discovered that the program was actually underfunded, leading to even lower-paying jobs.

What a PR stunt, “We’re not firing people; we’re empowering them!”

IBM pulled the same move, announcing plans to replace 7,800 back-office jobs with AI while touting “reskilling initiatives.” The result was less outrage, more headlines about how caring a company they are.

It’s optics and nothing more. They throw in just enough goodwill to look like the hero while the AI takeover marches on. I’ve seen this playbook in my 30-year HR career.

In fact, I know someone at a tech firm who was “upskilled” into a role that paid 30% less after AI took over her old job. I keep hearing of similar incidents with others.

Upskilling at the moment is just a consolation prize.

Why go through all this trouble?

It’s mainly because of the backlash, which can become a corporate nightmare for the Companies.

However, this corporate shell game can’t last. As AI takes over more roles, the layoffs will be too massive to hide.

X (formerly Twitter) is already buzzing about companies like Duolingo and Intuit using AI to “gut” their workforces. Workers are waking up, unions are stirring, and the public’s patience is fraying.

A 2025 Forbes article noted that 30% of US companies have swapped workers for AI, and with plans for more cuts, the truth is slowly seeping out.

The question isn’t if the bubble bursts; it’s a matter of when.

So what can we do? When a company brags about AI, ask who’s paying the price. The truth is there, buried under layers of their spin.