Companies are blaming AI for layoffs — but the real reason is fear of making the wrong move, a workplace guru says (www.businessinsider.com)

Cambridge organizational sociologist Thomas Roulet argues that many companies blaming generative AI for layoffs are actually paralyzed by uncertainty and afraid to make decisive HR moves. In a LinkedIn post he warned that this corporate indecision—not a single technological cause—is driving a lot of the workforce reshuffling, and that such hesitation could quietly stall career mobility and long-term human-capital development as firms delay promotions, reassignments, or strategic hiring. The mixed rationales from employers bear this out: AI-first shops are restructuring roles (xAI cut generalist data-annotation staff by a third while expanding specialist “AI tutor” roles tenfold to train Grok; Snorkel AI cut 13% while deprioritizing legacy areas), Big Tech couples cuts with AI pivots (Microsoft and Salesforce cut while hiring for AI products; Meta is “raising the bar”), and professional-services firms cite workforce dynamics (PwC pointed to unusually low attrition), while Scale AI attributed reductions to overhiring and shifting customer demand. For the AI/ML community this means demand is shifting toward specialist model-training and product roles even as overall labor-market signals remain noisy—raising risk for talent pipeline disruption, uneven reskilling, and stalled career trajectories.