CEOs used to talk up AI progress and efficiency by the number of workers it could replace, but with economic worries climbing, they're being more careful about linking AI to job cuts.

Why it matters: Communicators face competing pressures: Investors want proof AI spending is paying off, while employees don't want to hear that leaders are considering replacing them.

The big picture: The way leaders talk about AI and job cuts has shifted from touting how much labor the technology can replace to more nuanced takes on AI's role in workforce transformation.

• In 2024, Klarna said its AI assistant was doing the work of 700 full-time agents. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski later boasted: "Not only can we do more with less, but we can do much more with less."
• Last year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said AI helped reduce support headcount from 9,000 to about 5,000 "because I need less heads."

• In May, Coinbase cut about 700 jobs while CEO Brian Armstrong outlined plans to rebuild around smaller, "AI-native" teams.

Between the lines: That rhetoric is increasingly risky as anxiety around AI and employment grows.

• 61% of adults in the U.S. believe AI will ultimately mean fewer economic opportunities for most people, vs. 21% who expect more, according to an CBS News and YouGov poll of 2,287 people conducted between Aug. 12-14.
• Among Americans under 30, 73% expect it to lead to fewer jobs over the next two decades, according to a Pew survey of 3,488 adults from June 22-28.
• This all contributes to how employees process and think about AI-related news at work, says Gartner senior director analyst Catherine Donnelly.

• "I can't think of a change in my career where the information about it is coming from so many different external sources," she says.

Driving the news: AI was the most commonly cited reason for U.S. job cuts in July, the fifth consecutive month, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas,

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