It's a convenient excuse, but some of these aren't the best companies
Em 2026, mais de 115 mil trabalhadores do setor de tecnologia perderam seus empregos enquanto as empresas invocavam a inteligência artificial como justificativa — mas por trás da narrativa conveniente residem apostas fracassadas, contratações excessivas e estratégias de maximização de lucros que pouco têm a ver com automação. É uma história antiga revestida de linguagem nova: o poder reorganizando seus custos e encontrando, na inovação do momento, um escudo retórico eficaz. Os que mais pagam o preço são os mais jovens, aqueles que chegaram ao mercado acreditando que o futuro seria deles.
- Mais de 115 mil demissões em 150 empresas de tecnologia em 2026 revelam uma ruptura profunda no setor — e a inteligência artificial virou o bode expiatório preferido.
- Meta demitiu 8 mil pessoas em abril mesmo registrando lucro trimestral de quase 27 bilhões de dólares, enquanto tentava apagar os rastros de um metaverso que custou 80 bilhões e nunca decolou.
- Coinbase admitiu volatilidade do mercado cripto, e Block reconheceu ter contratado demais durante a pandemia — nenhum dos dois problemas tem origem na automação, mas ambos foram embalados na narrativa da IA.
- Wall Street celebra qualquer história que mencione inteligência artificial, e as empresas aprenderam a usar esse entusiasmo como cobertura para cortes de custos que analistas descrevem como 'desculpa conveniente'.
- Recém-formados em ciência da computação enfrentam um mercado paralisado: além das demissões, Meta cancelou 6 mil vagas abertas e o Snap eliminou 300 posições planejadas, sem perspectiva de alívio.
Mais de 115 mil trabalhadores de tecnologia perderam seus empregos em 2026, e a explicação que o setor adotou com notável uniformidade é a mesma: inteligência artificial. Meta, Coinbase e Block cortaram ao menos 10% de seus quadros citando a IA como fator determinante. Mas as circunstâncias de cada empresa contam uma história diferente.
A Meta recuou de uma aposta bilionária no metaverso — projeto que consumiu cerca de 80 bilhões de dólares sem entregar o que prometia — e havia dobrado seu quadro de funcionários entre 2019 e 2022 para sustentar essa visão. Em abril, demitiu 8 mil pessoas enquanto registrava lucro trimestral de quase 27 bilhões de dólares e realocava outros 7 mil funcionários para áreas de IA. A Coinbase apontou a volatilidade do mercado de criptomoedas. O Block simplesmente admitiu ter contratado além do necessário durante a pandemia. Nenhum desses problemas nasceu da automação.
Ainda assim, a narrativa da IA se consolidou. Snap demitiu mil pessoas buscando a lucratividade que alcançou em apenas três trimestres desde sua abertura de capital. Intuit cortou 3 mil vagas para redirecionar recursos à IA. A Microsoft ofereceu aposentadoria antecipada a cerca de 7% de sua força de trabalho nos Estados Unidos enquanto planejava investir 190 bilhões de dólares em infraestrutura de dados. Analistas como Mark Mahaney, da Evercore, observam que Wall Street ama uma boa história sobre IA — e as empresas aprenderam a usar esse entusiasmo como escudo para estratégias de corte de custos que têm pouca relação com automação.
Quem arca com o peso mais pesado são os trabalhadores mais jovens. Além das demissões, a Meta cancelou 6 mil vagas que planejava preencher; o Snap eliminou 300 posições abertas. Para quem se formou nos últimos dois anos, encontrar emprego na área tornou-se genuinamente difícil. O professor Daniel Keum, da Columbia Business School, não vê alívio no horizonte: a IA está criando uma recessão isolada para os recém-formados, e a tendência, segundo ele, é de aceleração — não de recuo.
More than 115,000 workers across 150 technology companies have lost their jobs so far this year, and the industry has settled on a convenient explanation: artificial intelligence. Meta, Coinbase, and Block each cut at least 10 percent of their workforce in recent months, all citing AI as a factor. The three companies eliminated roughly 13,000 jobs combined. But the timing and the numbers tell a more complicated story—one in which AI serves as a useful cover for problems that have nothing to do with automation.
Meta's pivot toward AI came after the company retreated from its massive bet on the metaverse, a project that cost roughly $80 billion and failed to materialize as promised. During the pandemic, Meta had hired thousands of people specifically for this effort, doubling its workforce to around 87,000 employees between 2019 and 2022. Now the company is steadily shrinking that division while pouring money into AI infrastructure. In April alone, Meta cut 8,000 people—10 percent of its staff—even as its most recent quarterly profit reached nearly $27 billion. The company simultaneously reassigned 7,000 workers to AI-focused roles and began monitoring employee computers to gather training data for its own AI systems.
Coinbase's CEO, Brian Armstrong, was more direct about his company's situation: the cryptocurrency market remained volatile, he said, and business conditions were weak. Block's leadership acknowledged that the company had simply hired too aggressively during the pandemic, tripling its workforce between 2019 and 2022 before realizing it had overextended. These were not problems created by AI. They were problems created by poor judgment and changing market conditions.
Yet across the industry, the AI narrative has taken hold with remarkable consistency. Snap's CEO, Evan Spiegel, fired 1,000 people in April and framed it as necessary to finally achieve profitability—something the company had managed in only three quarters since going public in 2017. But he also mentioned that AI was improving efficiency, allowing small teams to accomplish what once required dozens of people. Intuit cut about 3,000 jobs to free up resources for AI expansion. Cisco eliminated 4,000 positions while pledging to invest in AI tools for its remaining workers. Microsoft offered early retirement packages to roughly 7 percent of its U.S. workforce—thousands of people—while planning to spend around $190 billion this year on data centers and infrastructure.
Analysts and economists have begun to question whether AI is the real driver or simply the most marketable excuse. Mark Mahaney, an analyst at Evercore, noted that companies using AI as justification for cuts may have simply over-hired, lost market share, or faced other operational failures. "It's a convenient excuse," he said, "but some of these aren't necessarily the best or best-managed companies." Wall Street, he suggested, loves an AI story right now, and that enthusiasm provides useful cover for profit-maximization strategies that have little to do with automation.
Ava Sazanami, who worked at Meta from 2022 to 2025, was blunt about what she observed: "All these cuts are happening, and there are record profits. AI isn't actually costing less money. It's an excuse to some extent." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors in April that one or two people could now build in a week what previously took dozens of people months to construct—a remarkable claim that conveniently justified eliminating thousands of jobs while the company's profitability soared.
The human cost falls most heavily on junior workers and recent graduates. Daniel Keum, an associate professor of management at Columbia Business School, noted that certain segments of the labor market are being hit hard: entry-level positions and roles for people who graduated in the last two years. Beyond the layoffs themselves, Meta announced it would close 6,000 open positions it had planned to fill. Snap eliminated 300 job openings. For computer science graduates entering the market, finding work has become genuinely difficult. Keum predicted no relief is coming. "AI is causing this isolated recession for recent graduates right now," he said. "Is it going to slow down? My answer is no. It's going to accelerate." Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, has already signaled that the company expects to operate with fewer corporate employees in coming years as it gains efficiency through AI—a message that sent 14,000 workers home in October 2025 and another 16,000 in January 2026.
Citas Notables
All these cuts are happening, and there are record profits. AI isn't actually costing less money. It's an excuse to some extent.— Ava Sazanami, former Meta employee (2022-2025)
AI is causing this isolated recession for recent graduates right now. Is it going to slow down? My answer is no. It's going to accelerate.— Daniel Keum, associate professor of management, Columbia Business School
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
When companies say they're cutting jobs because of AI, are they telling the truth?
They're telling part of the truth. AI is real and it does change how work gets done. But the timing is suspicious. Meta cut 8,000 people while posting $27 billion in quarterly profit. That's not about necessity—that's about choice.
So what's really happening?
Companies over-hired during the pandemic, made bad bets like Meta's metaverse, or faced market problems like Coinbase with crypto volatility. Now they need to cut costs and boost profits. AI is the story that makes it sound strategic instead of reactive.
But couldn't AI actually replace workers?
Eventually, maybe. But not at the scale or speed these companies are claiming. One person doing in a week what took a month before—that's real. But it doesn't explain why you'd fire thousands while your profits hit records.
Who gets hurt the most?
Junior workers and recent graduates. They're the ones who can't find entry-level jobs because companies are freezing hiring while they redirect money to AI infrastructure. If you graduated this year with a computer science degree, you're in trouble.
Is this temporary?
No. Executives are already saying they expect to operate with fewer people going forward. One analyst told me it's going to accelerate, not slow down. The damage to the junior job market is just beginning.