Over the past 12 months, a number of main employers — together with at the very least one Biglaw firm and one corporate legal department — have announced large-scale layoffs, citing AI-driven effectivity as a rationale.
In some instances, AI could also be merely a pretext for routine cutbacks. In others, AI is an actual issue, however the layoffs are pushed extra by the know-how’s potential moderately than by its actuality.
In keeping with a recent study in Harvard Enterprise Evaluate, 60% of greater than 1,000 world executives surveyed stated that they had lowered headcount in anticipation of AI effectivity positive aspects, whereas simply 2% stated they’d made giant reductions primarily based on precise AI outcomes.
One seemingly results of choices primarily based on wishful pondering is that many individuals who had been fired will find yourself being rehired. As reported in Law.com, each the advisory agency Gartner and Forrester Analysis predict that half of AI-attributed layoffs will probably be reversed.
Authorized recruiter Daniel Vahab instructed Regulation.com that some employers have been appearing out of “FOMO.” “They went with the pattern and the hype, and it’s type of backfired,” he famous, “and now plenty of companies are scrambling to deliver individuals again and fill these roles.”
The ‘Layoff Boomerang’: Why Firms Are Scrambling to Rehire Talent in the AI Era [Law.com]
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