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More than 160 companies in New York state have filed mass layoff notices since last March. None – in set includes AmazonGoldman Sachs and other employers adopting this function Artificial intelligence tools– It is attributed to them Workforce reductions In those filings refer to “technological innovation or automation.”
This option was added 11 months ago to a required question about the paperwork businesses with 50 or more employees must submit to the state to notify them of significant job losses. The New York Department of Labor told WIRED that as of the end of January, no employer had identified technology as a reason for reducing its workforce.
Over the past couple of years, many companies have celebrated offloading repetitive tasks such as Customer service, salesand accounting for artificial intelligence systems. But they say they are getting rid of human workers in favor of artificial intelligence agents or robots You could risk reputational damage. Economists face challenges tracking layoffs due to technological advances It can take decades for companies to completely reorganize About new ways of working.
Enter New York Governor Kathy Hochul. In order to better deal with the current reality, I ordered The Department of Labor has begun to question whether artificial intelligence is driving layoffs. New York becomes the first state to have an artificial intelligence option, according to Legal experts.
New York businesses can choose multiple reasons from a list of 17 reasons in total that also includes “bankruptcy,” “merger,” “transfer,” and “other” in filing for the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Required Notice, or WARN. If a company selects the Technology and Automation option, it will receive an additional question asking it to select the technology that will do the work, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, or “software modernization.”
More than 750 notices have followed involving 162 employers and affecting nearly 28,300 workers, without AI appearing. The results suggest that companies may be as well Evading the artificial intelligence question. Or it is a sign that workers do not yet need to fear anything more than traditional motivations for layoffs.
Some of the filings include caterers and retailers whose staff have not been widely linked to capable AI alternatives. On the other hand, Goldman Sachs led the way with more than 4,100 workers affected by layoffs or location closures, according to New York records. Amazon was among the top 10 with 660 workers affected. Morgan Stanley, another company adopting AI, reported 260 workers out of work.
Internally, Goldman Sachs linked Layoffs last year highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence for significant productivity gains. Amazon to caution Before the recent waves of layoffs, which affected about 30,000 workers in total, leveraging AI would lead to job cuts. Unnamed source He told Bloomberg A small portion of layoffs at Morgan Stanley reflect the use of artificial intelligence and automation. Companies operate all over the world, so it’s possible that employees outside of New York could be fired just in favor of AI.
Overall, nearly 55,000 US companies attributed job cuts to adopting AI last year. according to Analysis of public data released by job search company Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
However, none of these developments seen in the original New York data are reinforced Challenge With reply The question on everyone’s mind: “Will AI take my job?”
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantle says that “AI is not the reason for the vast majority” of the cuts, but instead the goal is to “reduce classes, increase ownership, and help reduce bureaucracy.”
Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment.
Accuracy checks
WARN filings are intended to give state agencies advance notice of cuts, so they can ramp up services to help people find new jobs quickly. Businesses face daily fines of $500 for failure to comply with registration requirements.
Christine Defoe, a spokeswoman for the governor, says the Department of Labor is following up with each employer to ensure the recordings are accurate. In Amazon’s case, for example, the company included “economic” as a rationale for the layoffs, according to Defoe. She explained to the department that staff hired during the pandemic to meet surges in online shopping are no longer needed.