Recently, in a notice sent to employees, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike announced that it would cut 5% of its global workforce, approximately 500 positions. In the document, CEO George Kurtz mentioned that one of the reasons for the layoffs was the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the business, which improved work efficiency.
Kurtz stated that the current market and technology are undergoing changes, with AI reshaping various industries, bringing accelerated threats and constantly changing customer demands. He emphasized that AI technology has smoothed out the company's hiring needs and accelerated the innovation process from concept to product. Additionally, AI has played a role in improving efficiency in the company's front-end and back-end operations.
However, CrowdStrike's decision to lay off employees is not solely due to technological reasons. The market's demand for sustained growth and the expansion of the company's product lines are also contributing factors. To implement these layoffs, CrowdStrike expects to incur costs of up to $53 million. Despite reporting revenue of $1 billion in Q4 of the 2025 fiscal year, representing a 25% year-over-year increase, the company still reported a loss of $92 million.
Meanwhile, market analysts have expressed skepticism about this move. Aaron McEwan, vice president at Gartner, pointed out that many companies often link announcements of AI efficiency with reduced revenue expectations. He noted that many companies have yet to achieve expected productivity gains, especially in the tech industry, where the trend of compressing manpower through AI is becoming more apparent.
On the other hand, Toby Walsh, an AI professor at the University of New South Wales, said that CrowdStrike's decision to lay off employees seemed quite "tone-deaf," particularly after last year's incident that caused 8.5 million Windows systems worldwide to crash. He believed that CrowdStrike should have reallocated these laid-off employees to emergency response and fault repair positions.
Looking ahead, Niusha Shafiabady, an associate professor of computational intelligence at Australian Catholic University, pointed out that the introduction of AI technology leading to the loss of traditional jobs is almost inevitable. Although it is expected that 69 million new jobs will be created, it is also predicted that 83 million jobs will be lost, resulting in a net reduction of 2% overall.
In this context, McEwan called on businesses to seek ways to use AI technology to enhance rather than replace labor. As AI technology continues to advance, more similar layoff cases may emerge in the future.