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09/30/2025

Nearly 4 in 10 Companies Will Replace Workers with AI by 2026

Source: HR Dive, September 22, 2025

As companies increase their investment in and adoption of artificial intelligence tools, more employers plan to replace workers with AI within the next year, according to a September report by Resume.org.

Nearly 3 in 10 companies said they’ve already replaced jobs with AI, and by the end of 2026, 37% expect to have replaced jobs with AI.

“AI adoption is going to reshape the job market more dramatically over the next 18 to 24 months than we’ve seen in decades,” Kara Dennison, head of career advising at Resume.org, said in a statement. “We’ll see continued displacement of routine and process-driven roles as well as entirely new categories of work centered on AI oversight, data ethics, prompt engineering and human-AI collaboration.”

In a survey of 1,000 U.S. business leaders, half said they’ve pulled back on hiring, 39% have conducted layoffs in 2025, 35% expect to lay off workers before the end of the year, and 58% believe layoffs are likely in 2026. Leaders cited economic uncertainty, trade policy and AI as the top reasons for reductions.

Notably, high-salary employees and those who lack AI-related skills face the highest risks for layoffs, leaders said. In addition, recently hired and entry-level workers have a higher risk.

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