AI fell down the layoff list. The layoffs did not stop.

AI fell down the layoff list. The layoffs did not stop.

Challenger's count of US job cuts had AI as the top stated reason for five months this year, and what it measures is what gets said when a cut is announced.

Stavros Roussos

A worn, empty office chair standing alone in a bare room beside a curtain, in black and white; no people, no company marks, no hospital or workplace identifiable

Photo Ritupon Baishya / Unsplash

AI slid to the fifth-most cited reason for US job cuts in September, but the count only ever recorded what is said when a cut is announced, usually by the employer.

AI led Challenger's tally March through July, peaking at 40 percent of May's cuts, then fell to fourth in August and fifth in September.
100,409 of this year's 120,136 AI-cited cuts came in those five months.
No source I found shows relabeling. In September at least 6,838 tech cuts carried another stated reason.
Challenger says a hospital cut 12 nursing jobs after new software; the hospital has not confirmed the cuts, and with the product unclear, Challenger logged them as "possibly AI."

The total does not depend on the wording: 573,195 announced cuts this year, down 39 percent from the same nine months of 2025, and 15 percent excluding government.