NEW YORK (AP) — Companies around the world are increasingly citing artificial intelligence when slashing jobs, fueling anxiety that a lot more workers may lose their livelihoods to machines.
Microsoft, Barclays Bank and supermarket chain Kroger are among the latest entries on a growing list of companies that have announced AI-related workforce reductions this year, including the elimination of jobs deemed redundant and positions shed to free up money for developing and deploying the technology.
But the job cuts of the AI era, which are affecting tens of thousands of people, occasionally have an epilogue. Some companies, after discovering that AI models, applications and agents don't perform as well as expected, end up rehiring laid-off workers to fill eliminated positions.
How common such reversals are is hard to know, but they are happening often enough to acquire trend status and a nickname: the “AI boomerang."
“Two years ago, we said, ‘Would this happen?’ and now we’re saying, ‘Yes, it is happening in real time,’” said Lucy Beaumont, a global senior vice president at SHL, a U.K.-based technology company that develops employment-related tests and tools.
Hiring managers in industries such as finance, marketing, legal and healthcare told staffing and placement firm Robert Half they had hired people to do the same or similar work of jobs scrapped during AI-linked cutbacks because the roles required human oversight and skills such as relationship management or quality control.
“When you need critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, institutional knowledge, those are things that AI just can’t replicate,” Bill Driscoll, a senior district president at Robert Half, said. “And I think that’s where companies are starting to realize, ‘Wow, we really do need people to do these jobs.’”
Klarna, the Swedish provider of buy now, pay later services, began recruiting human customer service representatives again last year. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski acknowledged in an interview with Bloomberg News that the company’s reliance on an AI chatbot to cut costs had gone too far.
In June, Ford said it had hired or promoted 350 veteran engineers after AI tools the automaker deployed to do quality control work did not perform at the expected level.
“AI utilization has been an important part of our quality gains and that — along with deep technical expertise of our teams — is a powerful combination,” a Ford spokesperson told The Associated Press.
However, companies don’t always broadcast their U-turns on shifting resources or responsibilities from employees to AI systems, Beaumont said.
“Maybe their shareholders love that they did this right-sizing motion .... and then they have to turn around and quietly, with their tail between their legs, admit that they weren’t ready for that or they shouldn’t have done that,” she said.
Management experts shared insights on navigating the ebb and flow as employers seek productivity gains from AI or cost savings from reduced staffing, and occasionally reconsider their approaches.
When companies use AI to perform tasks previously done by people, they often miss the invisible work employees do beyond their formal job descriptions, said Betsy Summers, a principal analyst on the Future of Work team at market research and advisory firm Forrester.
That might include sensing emotions and moods, holding impromptu meetings and putting in extra effort when feeling inspired or otherwise motivated, Summers said.
“We don’t know all the work that’s required to do things well within the organization," she said. "The citizenship behaviors of team cohesion and team building and making sure that you have trust within your team, none of that is accounted for. So when you rip out humans who are doing that work and then expect agents to be able to then deliver exactly what humans have delivered, they are frequently mistaken.”
Another factor that complicates assigning more work to AI-powered tools is that company procedures for tasks such as data processing and bookkeeping are not always well documented, experts said.
“Organizations are not spending enough time doing the up-front work to really truly understand workflows and where humans add value in the process,” said Brooks Holtom, a professor of management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
In roles such as customer service, AI agents and chatbots frequently need to refer questions and complaints to a worker who can read and understand emotions, interpret the level of severity or complexity and act creatively but within parameters, Holtom said.
“It’s that combination of creativity but staying in the guardrail that’s really hard for a machine to figure out,” he said.
People considering returning to a company that outsourced work to AI can lean into skills that are hard to automate, such as emotional intelligence, ethical decision-making and judgment based on experience, Holtom said.
“Really try to be able to articulate, what’s your value proposition as a human?" Holtom said. "Don’t be afraid to lean into the technology as well, and understand how to differentiate yourself from what machines do well. Embrace that, understand that, and you can become uniquely qualified to help with implementation.”
Empathy is another human quality that technology has not fully mastered, Beaumont said.
“Think about an angry customer. They want to be listened to, they want to be heard, they really want a human on the other end of the line,” Beaumont said. “Can an AI replace that right now in a way that feels meaningful to individuals? Perhaps not.”
Many people don't want to return to a company that laid them off, according to Beaumont. The ones willing to consider going back during a reorganization around artificial intelligence are asking for more money and to know how AI might impact opportunities for promotion, she said.
“To come back to a business where you’ve been let go, replaced by AI, to be asked back to that business, your trust is gone, your psychological safety there, your relationship with the employer, and that’s very, very difficult to build back,” Beaumont said.
Workers with rehiring offers can ask to be upskilled and for a clear idea of what career growth at the company might look like for them specifically, she said.
Before accepting an offer to return, seek a commitment such as a one-year renewable contract that includes a buyout clause if the job is terminated in less than a year, Holtom suggested.
Communicate ways you would contribute value, such as becoming the final line of defense for quality control. For example, a retail company worker could audit a chatbot’s conversations with customers and recommend improvements, Holtom said.
“In some ways, you could almost envision a higher role for yourself and sort of create a new job description that leverages the technology but also your expertise. So maybe you can get a raise in that process,” he said.
Don't discount the distinctly human values of motivation and curiosity, which make people efficient and effective, Summers said.
“Within our societies, work serves a broader purpose than just creating value for shareholders or customers or constituents,” she added. “Work serves a human purpose as well. It’s the manifestation of our search for meaning and purpose. We want to contribute to our communities as human beings.”
Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well
(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)
False and misleading claims about the voting process are being spread online as voters cast their ballots in the 2026 midterms, with Election Day less than a week away.
The posts often focus on alleged election rigging or voter fraud. However, closer scrutiny of the claim typically reveals a logical explanation.
Here's a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM: A punched hole in a Ventura County, California, ballot return envelope is proof of election rigging.
THE FACTS: This is false. The ballot return envelopes have two holes, according to election officials. They help election workers confirm that the ballot has been removed and act as an accessibility feature.
A video spreading online shows the front of a return envelope from Ventura County that has a punched hole on one side. A man explains that if ballots are inserted with a certain side facing the front of the envelope, the bubble for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra is visible through the hole.
The man warns: “Be very careful how you place your ballot in your California envelope.” A popular X post claimed that “California is rigging elections,” using the video as alleged proof.
Simone Seydoux, spokesperson for the Office of the Ventura County Clerk-Recorder & Registrar of Voters, explained that the envelopes follow a design standard recommended by the California secretary of state. Both holes can be seen from the back of the envelope. They appear on each side of the spot voters must sign, acting as a guide for those who are vision impaired. One of these holes goes through the entire envelope so that election workers can ensure it is empty after the ballot has been removed. Workers also secure stacks of emptied envelopes for storage by inserting zip ties through this hole.
“The holes are NOT positioned in order to see the vote on a particular contest,” Seydoux wrote in an email. “The envelopes are ordered ahead of time and used from one election to another if possible.”
Ventura County's 2026 general election ballot consists of three double-sided ballot cards, according to Seydoux. She added that “voters are welcome to fold the ballot and place it in the envelope in any order.”
The California secretary of state's office confirmed earlier this month that there is nothing untoward about such holes.
“The small holes on some county ballot return envelopes are an accessibility feature to allow sight-impaired voters to orient themselves to where they are required to sign the envelope,” the office wrote in an Instagram post. “If a voter is concerned their ballot choices might be visible through these holes, they can insert their ballots into the return envelope in various ways where all choices are hidden.”
CLAIM: A New York City polling site gave a voter two ballots, one of which was missing the conservative candidates.
THE FACTS: This claim was originally made in a TikTok video by a user who says in the comments that she voted at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York City. A sample ballot for that location shows that it consists of two double-sided pages. One side of the second page includes judicial races, in which no conservative candidates are running.
“They’re betting on your stupidity and they’re betting on your ignorance that you are not going to see that they’re giving you a ballot that is missing half the candidates,” the woman in the video says. “That’s actually some real foolery and real trickery right there. So honestly, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up.”
There are four judicial races on the ballot. Democratic candidates are running in all of them and Working Families Party candidates are running in one. There are no Republican or Conservative Party candidates listed since there are none in the race.
“The only reason there would be no candidate on a party line in a contest on the ballot is because no individual was nominated by that party for that particular office,” Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections, wrote in an email. “Of course, all contests offer voters a space for write-in candidates, so voters can write in another person if they do not like the choices printed on the ballot.”
She added that New York City has had multi-page ballots for many years.
The woman in the video also highlights the fact that she was told she didn’t need to show her ID before voting. In New York, voters provide their Department of Motor Vehicles number or the last four digits of their social security number when registering to vote. They may also use another form of valid photo ID or a government document that shows their name and address, such as a utility bill or a bank statement. Voters will be asked for ID at the polls if their identity cannot be verified before Election Day, according to the state’s registration form.
McGrath explained that voters must only verify their identity at the polls via signature if additional identification, such as a photo ID, has already been verified. Their signature is reviewed and approved by two bipartisan poll workers at the site to ensure it matches what is in their voter record.
“Unfortunately, much mis- and disinformation about elections and voting spreads quickly online,” she wrote. “Worse yet, many social media posts are made solely as efforts to troll or get clicks (with no concern for truth or impact). Sometimes, it is simply the individual not understanding the process — which is run securely, transparently, and always by bipartisan officials in New York State. Boards of elections remain the trusted sources for accurate information.”
CLAIM: Touchscreen voting machines in multiple states are flipping votes from Democrats to Republicans.
THE FACTS: Election officials say the touchscreen challenges are almost always the result of user error or an easily fixed screen miscalibration, and say the number of complaints this year isn’t higher than it has been in years past, despite outsized attention on social media. They emphasize that voters can select a candidate as many times as needed, consult a poll worker for help and review selections before submitting their ballot.
“Almost all of the claims of vote flipping are understandable human error,” said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, who noted disinformation purveyors often seize on well-meaning concerns to sow doubt in the voting process. “Is there one of us who hasn’t had a butt dial or mistyped something on our phones? It is not nefarious.”
Voters across the country cast ballots in various ways, including with ballot marking devices that print a paper record or with paper ballots they fill out by hand.
The counties where most of the recent vote-flipping social media reports are concentrated use ExpressVote ballot marking devices from a company called Election Systems & Software. The machines let voters make their selections on a touchscreen. Then, a paper record is typically printed for review before the votes are tabulated.
Katina Granger, senior manager of public relations for the Nebraska-based ES&S, said the company works closely with election officials and provides technical support when needed but has not been made aware of any widespread issue with voting machines this cycle.
She said when a voter is having difficulty, they should ask a poll worker for assistance. If they’ve already printed a ballot that doesn’t reflect their intended selections, “they should notify a poll worker rather than cast it so the jurisdiction can follow its procedures for replacing the ballot.”
CLAIM: Ballots marked by poll workers will be disqualified in the 2026 midterm elections.
THE FACTS: Voting procedures vary by jurisdiction, but it is not unheard of for poll workers to mark ballots as part of the process. There are multiple reasons a poll worker might write on a ballot, according to election officials in multiple states. Experts advise voters to check what the rules are in their district and to avoid making stray marks of their own.
In many North Carolina counties, for example, election workers write “P” for provisional or “A” for absentee in a box in the upper left corner of a ballot so that they can be identified if they are put into a tabulator instead of sealed in an envelope as they are supposed to be. Ballots in Illinois are initialed before they are issued to voters.
“I always like to say, get your facts straight from the source, and the source is your local election official,” said Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group focused on election technology. “Not your friends, cousin, uncle, on Facebook.”
Smith encouraged voters to seek out information on the websites or social media accounts of those officials. She also suggested asking a poll worker who marks a ballot why they’ve done so if a voter has concerns.
Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.
Voters use privacy booths to fill out their ballots at an early voting site in Haverstraw, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Voters use privacy booths to fill out their ballots at an early voting site in Haverstraw, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FILE - Ballots are inspected the day after California's primary election at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center, June 3, 2026, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
