Tech layoffs this week: Cloudflare, Coinbase, Upwork, and others point to AI as they slash jobs

April was not a good month for the tech industry in terms of job losses. Last month, major firms—including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Snap—all announced significant workforce reductions. But now, May is not shaping up to be any better. This week alone, news emerged that several major tech companies, including Cloudflare, Pay Pal, and Coinbase, are set to cut thousands of positions. And yes, you can blame AI for the job cuts—or at least the bosses are. Cloudflare cuts more than 1,100 jobs Yesterday, Cloudflare announced that it was laying off more than 1,100 workers across the globe. That equates to roughly about 20% of the company’s workforce. The announcement came from the company’s cofounders, Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn. The pair published the letter they sent to employees earlier in the day announcing those layoffs. The main driver of the layoffs—as has been with so many tech layoffs lately—is a shift to artificial intelligence in the workplace. In the letter sent to employees, Cloudflare notes that its use of AI in the workplace has “increased by more than 600% in the last three months alone,” across myriad departments, including engineering, marketing, finance, and HR. Cloudflare says these departments now “run thousands of AI agent sessions each day to get their work done.” Shares of Cloudflare Inc (NYSE: NET) were down roughly 15% following the announcement and its first-quarter earnings report. Bill.com reduces workforce by 30% On the same day Cloudflare announced its layoffs, the fintech billing SaaS provider for small and medium businesses, Bill Holdings (NYSE: BILL), did the same. Likewise, the company posted a letter from CEO René Lacerte, announcing the job cuts to employees. In the letter, Lacerte announced that Bill “will become an AI native company.” Lacerte said that companies operating in an AI-first world will see “the time between ideation and execution is much faster,” which necessitates changes in how Bill as a company works an