Oracle said in an annual filing that AI adoption contributed to a major workforce reduction over the past year, joining other technology companies that have tied layoffs or restructuring to artificial intelligence.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Oracle has cut 21,000 jobs over the past year, reducing its workforce by nearly 13% as the company expands the use of artificial intelligence across its business operations.
The software giant disclosed the reductions in an annual regulatory filing, Forbes reported. Oracle said it now has 141,000 full-time employees, down from 162,000 a year earlier.
The company, founded by billionaire Larry Ellison, attributed the job cuts to the “adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations.” Oracle also warned that the restructuring effort “may continue to result in reductions to our workforce.”
The disclosure places Oracle among a growing number of large technology companies restructuring around artificial intelligence as the industry accelerates automation, reduces management layers and shifts resources toward AI systems.
Career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said the technology sector has eliminated more than 123,000 jobs so far in 2026. The firm reported that AI has become the leading stated reason for layoffs, with 38,579 cuts attributed to artificial intelligence in May alone and 87,714 AI-related cuts reported year to date. The May total marked the highest monthly number of tech-sector layoffs since August 2024.
Other technology companies have also linked recent job cuts to AI adoption.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said artificial intelligence played a role in the company’s decision to eliminate 20% of its global workforce, or about 1,000 jobs. In an op-ed, Prince said broader AI deployment made many middle-management, operations, auditing, finance, legal and compliance roles unnecessary.
Cisco Systems announced 4,000 job cuts and directly tied the reductions to AI adoption. Meta told 7,000 workers they would be reassigned to AI initiatives as part of a broader 10% workforce reduction.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong instructed employees to “leverage AI across every facet of our jobs” while announcing about 700 cuts. Armstrong said AI would allow some teams to shrink to one person performing work previously handled by several employees.
“In short: AI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we’re reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era,” Armstrong said. “This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs.”
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told employees that 1,000 jobs would be eliminated because “rapid advancements in artificial intelligence” would allow smaller teams to complete the same amount of work. Spiegel projected the company would save $500 million by late 2026.
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes said he “fundamentally believes people and AI create the best outcomes” while announcing 1,600 job cuts intended to “self-fund further investment in AI.”
Block, the company led by Jack Dorsey, cut more than 4,000 jobs, amounting to nearly half of its staff, as part of a restructuring aimed at building smaller teams supported by AI tools.
The wave of workforce reductions has produced disagreement among technology leaders over whether companies are accurately describing the role of AI in layoffs.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang criticized executives who blame workforce reductions on artificial intelligence, calling those explanations “lazy.”
“I really hate that,” Huang said.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also accused some companies of “AI washing” by incorrectly attributing unrelated layoffs to artificial intelligence.
Oracle’s filing indicates the company may continue reducing staff as AI systems are further integrated into its operations. The disclosure adds to broader questions about how quickly artificial intelligence will reshape employment across technology, management, finance, legal, compliance and administrative roles.
More details are available from Forbes.
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