{"id":445,"date":"2026-05-31T22:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T22:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2026-05-31T22:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T22:11:51","slug":"ceos-blame-ai-for-layoffs-but-an-mit-professor-says-it-fits-a-long-running-pattern-to-find-a-cover-story-theyve-been-saying-that-for-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445","title":{"rendered":"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Avishai Abrahami, the CEO of the Israel-based website-building company, said in a post on X that Wix would cut roughly 20% of its staff, or just over 1,000 people based on its last employee count of 5,277 found in a May filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=443\">Ex-Workday CEO says his career took off after he changed his attitude\u2014and Amazon boss Andy Jassy swears by the same mindset hack<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In announcing the layoffs, Abrahami cited the strain that the strengthening of the Israeli currency, the shekel, against the U.S. dollar is causing for the company. But he also pointed to AI and the company\u2019s need to adapt to changing times.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When reached for comment, a Wix spokesperson referred <em>Fortune<\/em> to Abrahami\u2019s layoff announcement.<\/p>\n<p>In his announcement, Abrahami mentioned AI as \u201cthe most significant shift in how companies are built since the invention of modern programming languages in the 1970s,\u201d and added that Wix needed to adapt \u201cto become a faster, leaner, and flatter organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This language echoes that of Block CEO Jack Dorsey, who kicked off the year by announcing 4,000 layoffs to create \u201csmaller and flatter\u201d teams and a \u201cnew way of working.\u201d Executives at Snap and Atlassian executives have also used comparable framing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The trend of pushing for smaller teams and more productive workers isn\u2019t new.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years,\u201d said Paul Osterman, a professor emeritus of human resources management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of the book <em>Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employmen<\/em>t.<\/p>\n<p>Osterman argued that what is new is some companies\u2019 quiet admission that they don\u2019t want more workers.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While AI is creating some pressure on companies to innovate and restructure, he believes they are mostly using AI as a cover for layoffs, a phenomenon called \u201cAI washing,\u201d which allows companies to spin what would usually be negative news into a positive feat that shows they are innovating. Sometimes this works. After Cisco announced it was laying off 4,000 people earlier this month, its stock jumped 13%.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAI is a perfect excuse to justify big layoffs,\u201d Osterman told <em>Fortune<\/em>. \u201cIt makes it seem as if it\u2019s not our decision, our fault\u2014it\u2019s the technology.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=441\">Forget the STEM safety net. Peter Thiel warns AI is a bigger threat to technical roles than to creative thinkers<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Similarly, companies often lay off\u00a0employees they were going to let go of anyway during recessions, which serves as a convenient cover story, he added.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the spurt of AI-related layoffs may also be related to the increasing number of \u201cdisposable workers,\u201d which he estimates make up 35% of the American workforce today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These disposable workers, such as contractors, freelancers, and gig workers, are favored in some cases by employers because they can contribute to a company\u2019s goals, but also can be shed at any moment. Hiring these kinds of workers saves firms money on benefits and it also gives them flexibility to downsize or increase their staff when opportunities arise, something that may be beneficial as AI, to paraphrase executives, upends the way work is done.<\/p>\n<p>As of the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u2019 last count from 2023, there were 6.9 million contingent workers, like contractors or temporary workers, and they made up 4.3% of the U.S. workforce. Although this is a conservative estimate, it is an increase from 2017, when these kinds of workers made up 3.8% of the workforce.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While this trend of favoring disposable workers over employees has been building for decades, it\u2019s intensifying, partly because of the uncertainty created by AI, said Osterman.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, his research shows contractors and marginal workers face lower wages and report lower job satisfaction than standard employees. They\u2019re also less willing to go above and beyond for their employers as a result.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the bleak picture of employment, Osterman pushed back on the idea that workers should simply accept a future of disposable employment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe created a stable employment system of high wages and shared prosperity in the past,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we should be thinking about doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=439\">Sheinbaum accuses U.S. of interfering in Mexico\u2019s politics<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companies like Wix, Snap, and Block have all recently pointed to AI to explain cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-of-work"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Companies like Wix, Snap, and Block have all recently pointed to AI to explain cuts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-31T22:11:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"headline\":\"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-31T22:11:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445\"},\"wordCount\":722,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"the future of work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445\",\"name\":\"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-31T22:11:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=445#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cross Country Moving Team\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team","og_description":"Companies like Wix, Snap, and Block have all recently pointed to AI to explain cuts.","og_url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445","og_site_name":"Cross Country Moving Team","article_published_time":"2026-05-31T22:11:51+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"headline":"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019","datePublished":"2026-05-31T22:11:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445"},"wordCount":722,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp","articleSection":["the future of work"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445","name":"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-31T22:11:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fc574c43b2bac35b6ca0cc2d5b6a30bf.webp","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=445#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CEOs blame AI for layoffs, but an MIT professor says it fits a long-running pattern to find a cover story. \u2018They\u2019ve been saying that for 20 years\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/","name":"Cross Country Moving Team","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}