Not every job can be automated away, and companies that cut positions in favor of artificial intelligence are finding that out.
In a Robert Half survey of 2,000 U.S. hiring managers, 32% said their organizations had restored the exact roles they eliminated because of AI or automation gains.
Here's what to know
Customer service and engineering are among the areas employers are reconsidering in the "AI boomerang," according to International Business Times.
Fast Company reviewed research from staffing firm Robert Half that identified lost institutional knowledge, unexpected oversight needs, and disappointing productivity gains as reasons for bringing positions back.
Relying on a chatbot to cut costs had gone too far, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski acknowledged. The Swedish buy-now-pay-later company, which had touted the chatbot's capacity as comparable to hundreds of agents, returned to recruiting human customer-service staff in 2025.
More background
Brooks Holtom, who teaches management at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, said companies frequently assign work to AI without grasping how their employees operate, per the outlet.
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Employees also do work outside their formal job descriptions. They troubleshoot problems nobody anticipated, and they maintain the relationships and institutional knowledge that AI can't replicate. Those contributions can be overlooked when companies focus on which tasks they can automate.
AI relies on electricity supplied through the energy grid, and its computing infrastructure can consume substantial energy and water.
While the technology can help optimize clean energy systems, growing demand can also strain power supplies and raise energy bills. Its use in the workplace also raises security and misuse concerns along with worries about other societal risks.
The list of companies that have announced AI-related job cuts includes Microsoft, Barclays, and Kroger.
What's being done?
For difficult customer problems, Klarna keeps human staff available; routine questions remain automated, according to International Business Times.
When a chatbot can't reliably make a decision, a human can step in. The same is true for complaints shaped by strong emotions or unusual circumstances.
At Ford, experienced engineers help catch manufacturing defects, figure out what caused them, and use those findings to tighten quality checks, per the outlet. The company recruited or promoted these engineers, including former employees and people from suppliers, after automated quality checks failed to meet expectations.
A company representative credited the combination of AI and engineers' technical skills with improvements in quality.
Among hiring managers reporting restored roles, Robert Half found that 40% pointed to organizational know-how or context beyond AI's capabilities, 38% reported more supervision or quality checking than anticipated, and 35% said productivity gains fell short of what they expected.
Where can I learn more?
AI-driven job cuts are prompting workers to rethink their careers and push back.
• Software engineers fired over AI built OpenExecutive to replace CEOs with AI.
• Kroger plans 3,000 corporate job cuts as its new CEO pushes AI to reduce duplication.
• Young U.K. workers are turning to heritage crafts as AI disrupts office careers.
• U.S. union approval has returned to 1965 levels as AI job fears fuel support.
• A software engineer says AI coding leaves developers working 12 hours daily just to press enter.
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