Victims of the AI Race: Monday.com and Other Tech Giants Start Mass Layoffs

06:50 / 26.07.2026·25·Technology

In the global tech market, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming not only a source of new opportunities, but also a factor of serious changes in the labor market. Israel-based Monday.com, known for its project management software, has announced it will lay off nearly 20% of its staff, becoming the latest major player to shift to optimization as part of its AI development strategy. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Monday.com announced it is parting ways with over 600 employees. Company founder Eran Zinman emphasized in a LinkedIn post that this decision is not just about cutting costs, but adapting the organization to an "AI-first" model. Although the company expects a 20% revenue growth by 2026, it is ready to spend up to $55 million for the current transformation process.

Massive trend in the tech world

Not just Monday.com, but the entire IT sector is currently going through such a challenging period. According to Financial Times analysis, since the beginning of this year, U.S. tech companies have cut nearly 140,000 jobs. Giants like Amazon, Oracle, Meta, and Microsoft alone have laid off a combined total of nearly 50,000 employees. These companies are channeling the saved funds into building data centers for AI and increasing computing power.

Interestingly, the market does not always react positively to such layoffs. According to statistics, shares of companies that cited the AI factor as a reason for job cuts underperformed the NASDAQ index by 10%. This may indicate that investors do not fully believe the excuse of "layoffs due to artificial intelligence."

Microsoft cut 4,800 jobs in July, mostly affecting its Xbox gaming division. Although company management stated that these changes are not directly related to AI, CFO Amy Hood confirmed that headcount will continue to shrink amid increasing investments in artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, Oracle revealed that it has reduced its workforce by 21,000 people, or 13%, over the past year.

Staff turnover and new opportunities

However, the situation in the industry is not one-sidedly negative. At a time when traditional jobs are disappearing, the hiring rate in new areas is also high. For example, pure AI startups like Anthropic and OpenAI are actively hiring specialists. Even within companies that have carried out layoffs, employee rotation is being observed.

Meta laid off 8,000 employees, but transferred 7,000 people to new AI roles;
IBM is tripling its hiring of entry-level specialists in artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud technologies;
GitLab cut 350 employees to rebuild its AI infrastructure, redirecting resources toward agentic systems.

This global trend is also an important signal for Uzbek specialists. To remain competitive in the international IT market, knowing programming languages is no longer enough; effectively using AI tools and adapting to the new technological environment have become primary requirements. The fact that companies like Google are reducing the number of managers and placing more emphasis on engineers also points to changes in management systems.