White House advisor Michael Kratsios says that some companies are blaming AI for layoffs even when it has nothing to do with job roles cut, as …

White House Science and Technology Advisor Michael Kratsios believes technology companies that are blaming layoffs on artififical intelligence (AI) may not be what it looks like. He said that some companies that are attributing layoffs to AI even when the workforce reductions were likely planned regardless. Kratsios argued that the explanation “plays better in the press.” The remarks suggest that AI is sometimes used as a public justification for job cuts rather than as the direct cause of them.

Speaking on the Moonshots with Peter Diamandis podcast, Kratsios said, “I think like a lot of folks these days, like when they’re doing a layoff that they would have done anyway, just like to assign it or blame it to AI because it plays better in the press.”