GM lays off 600 IT workers in deliberate AI skills swap as automaker rebuilds tech workforce

GM Layoffs Target IT Workers in Calculated Skills Exchange

General Motors has laid off more than 10% of its IT department, eliminating approximately 600 salaried employees in what the automaker describes as a deliberate workforce restructuring 1

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. The GM layoffs, which primarily affected IT workers in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan, are not permanent headcount reductions aimed at cost-cutting 2

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. Instead, the company is executing an AI skills swap—clearing out workers whose expertise no longer aligns with its strategic direction and making room for specialists in AI-native development, data engineering, prompt engineering, and model development 1

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Laid off IT workers described the termination process as abrupt and impersonal. Several employees told CNBC they received an ominous email about an oddly timed 15-minute virtual meeting, followed by a scripted message from human resources that ended their employment without opportunity for questions 2

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. "No appreciation or empathy. No questions. Nothing," said a data analyst who had worked for more than a decade at the automaker 2

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. Despite the cuts, GM had roughly 80 open IT positions as of Tuesday, including jobs working in AI, motorsports, and autonomous vehicles 2

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General Motors Layoffs Part of Broader Industry Trend

The Detroit Three automakers—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—have collectively eliminated more than 20,000 US white-collar jobs from their recent employment peaks this decade, representing a 19% reduction of their combined salaried workforces 3

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. Combined white-collar employment across the three automakers peaked at roughly 102,000 jobs in 2022 and had fallen to 88,700 by the end of last year 3

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. GM led the reductions, cutting approximately 11,000 salaried positions from a 2022 peak of 58,000, driven by the wind-down of its Cruise robotaxi division and AI-related workforce restructuring 3

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The three automakers currently have more than 2,000 open US positions, of which nearly 400 involve AI 3

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. GM alone is seeking more than 250 hiring for AI-related roles 3

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. Ford CEO Jim Farley made explicit the trajectory in July at the Aspen Ideas Festival: "Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the US" 3

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. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revealed his company cut support staff from 9,000 to 5,000 after deploying AI agents that now handle half of all customer interactions 3

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Software-Defined Vehicles Drive AI Adoption Strategy

GM's workforce restructuring reflects a strategic pivot toward software-defined vehicles after retreating from electric vehicle and autonomous driving ambitions 4

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. The automaker recorded $7.1 billion in special charges in the fourth quarter of 2025, including $6 billion related to its EV plans 4

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. In December 2024, GM shut down Cruise's robotaxi operations after years of investment and safety incidents 4

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. Nearly 90% of the code for GM's autonomous driving software is now written by AI, a figure that partly explains why the company needs fewer legacy IT workers and more engineers who can manage AI-generated code at scale 4

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GM is integrating Google Gemini conversational AI into its vehicles starting this year and has contracted with Nvidia to replace the current Qualcomm Snapdragon platform with Nvidia Drive Thor system, which will debut in 2028 4

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. The company hired Behrad Toghi from Apple in October as AI lead and brought on Rashed Haq, formerly of Cruise, as vice president of autonomous vehicles 1

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Enterprise AI Reshapes Workforce Requirements

A veteran programmer and data scientist at GM who was laid off told CNBC: "They're going to push AI for everyday work and everything else. I've seen it firsthand. It can make you much more productive, as a programmer. It can really help you get more work done, but AI isn't going to do you any good if you don't know the business" 3

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. The observation captures the tension at the heart of AI-driven job displacement: the technology makes individual workers more productive, but that productivity gain reduces the number of workers required, and the institutional knowledge that departing workers take with them cannot be replicated by a language model 3

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Boston Consulting Group forecasts that 10% to 15% of US jobs could be eliminated as AI proliferates over the next five years, with 50% to 55% of jobs being reshaped within two to three years 3

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. Gregory Emerson, managing director at BCG, warned that "those who cut their workforce beyond AI's ability to replace it will see productivity drop, institutional knowledge disappear, and critical talent walk away" 3

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Severance Packages and Support Services Offered

Impacted employees received severance packages ranging from two months for those with one to four years of experience, scaling up to six months for employees who had worked at the company for 12 or more years 2

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. Lump-sum payments toward health care between $2,000 and $6,000 also were provided 2

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. Any unused vacation or sick time was forfeited unless such actions violated state laws 2

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. GM also offered services through mental health care company Lyra "for navigating job loss" and career coaching through outplacement services company LHH 2

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The IT restructuring comes after a strong first quarter in which GM reported $43.6 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings per share of $3.70, beating Wall Street estimates by 40% 4

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. The company raised its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings guidance by $500 million to $13.5 to $15.5 billion 4

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. The workforce restructuring is not a distress signal but a profitable company choosing to rebuild its technology workforce while the core business remains healthy 4

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