No Company Has Admitted to Replacing Workers With AI in New York
More than 160 companies in New York State have filed mass layoff notices since last March. None – in a group that includes Amazon, Goldman Sachs and other employers adopting AI tools – attributed the workforce reductions in these cases to “technological innovation or automation.”
This option was added 11 months ago to a required question about what documents businesses with 50 or more employees must file with the state to notify significant job losses. The New York Department of Labor told WIRED that, as of late January, no employers had cited technology as a reason for downsizing.
Over the past few years, many companies have celebrated moving repetitive tasks such as customer service, sales, and accounting to AI systems. But saying they’re abandoning human workers in favor of AI agents or robots can risk damaging their reputation. And economists struggle to link layoffs to technological advances, because companies can take decades to completely reorganize around new ways of working.
Enter New York Governor Kathy Hochul. To better understand the current reality, she ordered the Department of Labor to start looking into whether AI was behind the layoffs. New York has become the first state to offer an AI option, according to legal experts.
New York businesses can select multiple reasons from a list of 17 total that also includes “bankruptcy,” “merger,” “relocation” and “other” in required Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, filings. If a company chose the technology and automation option, they would receive an additional question asking them to specify the technology that supports the work, such as AI, robotics, or “software modernization.”
More than 750 reviews covering 162 employers and affecting nearly 28,300 workers followed the deployment without AI appearing. The findings suggest that companies may be dodging the question of AI. Or else, it is a sign that workers still need not fear anything other than the traditional factors of layoffs.
Some of the filers include caterers and retailers whose staffs have not been widely matched with AI-competent replacements. On the other hand, Goldman Sachs led the way with more than 4,100 workers affected by layoffs or site closures, according to New York records. Amazon was among the top 10 with 660 workers affected. Morgan Stanley, another AI believer, reported 260 unemployed workers.
Internally, Goldman Sachs linked its layoffs last year to AI’s potential to drive significant productivity gains. Amazon warned before its latest waves of layoffs, which affected about 30,000 workers in total, that the benefits of AI would lead to job cuts. An anonymous source told Bloomberg that a small portion of the layoffs at Morgan Stanley reflected the use of AI and automation. The companies operate around the world, so it’s possible that only employees outside of New York have been sidelined in favor of AI.
In total, nearly 55,000 U.S. companies attributed job cuts to AI adoption last year, according to an analysis of public statements by job search firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Yet none of these developments appearing in New York’s unique data reinforce the challenge of answering the question on everyone’s mind: “Will AI take my job?”
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said that “AI is not the reason behind the vast majority” of the cuts and that the goal is instead to “reduce tiers, increase ownership and help reduce bureaucracy.”
Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment.
Accuracy checks
The WARN filings are intended to notify state agencies in advance of reductions, so they can step up services to help people find new jobs quickly. Businesses face daily fines of $500 for failing to comply with filing requirements.
Kristin Devoe, a spokeswoman for the governor, says the Department of Labor follows up with each employer to ensure reporting is accurate. In the case of Amazon, for example, the company cited “economic” as a justification for layoffs, according to Devoe. He told the ministry that employees hired during the pandemic to accommodate the increase in online shopping were no longer needed.
