Klarna, Ford and others are rehiring after AI cuts

Several large companies, including Klarna and Ford, have begun rehiring staff after deploying AI systems that did not handle complex customer-service, engineering and HR tasks as expected.

Klarna announced in 2024 that an AI agent could handle the workload of about 700 customer-service representatives and match human satisfaction scores. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski later acknowledged the company was recruiting human agents so customers could always choose to speak with a person. The company said its AI assistant now performs work equivalent to more than 800 full-time roles and described the new hiring as part of a plan to combine automation with human support.

Ford rehired roughly 350 experienced engineers after automated design and quality systems failed to replicate the practical knowledge of long-tenured staff. Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told reporters that AI depends on the information used to train it and that the company had underestimated the value of engineers who had worked through many product cycles.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia restored more than 40 customer-service positions after an AI voice bot struggled with customer demand and call volumes rose. The bank acknowledged it had not fully assessed operational needs before eliminating those roles.

IBM automated about 94% of routine HR requests but found the remaining cases involving ethics and nuance still required human judgment. IBM announced plans to triple entry-level hiring in the United States in 2026. Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s chief human resources officer, warned that without fresh hires “the well simply dries up.”

Data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows U.S. employers announced 97,006 job cuts in May, with 38,579 attributed to artificial intelligence, about 40% of that month’s total.

A February 2026 survey by Careerminds found two-thirds of companies that carried out AI-driven layoffs had begun rehiring. Among those firms, 32.7% restored between a quarter and half of the roles they had cut, while 35.6% brought back more than half. More than half of HR leaders said rehiring began within six months of the layoffs.

Research by Orgvue found 39% of business leaders reduced staff because of AI and 55% later characterized those redundancy decisions as mistakes. Gartner forecasts that by 2027 half of companies that cut jobs citing AI will rehire staff to perform similar functions under different job titles. Gartner’s analysis also found no clear link between larger workforce reductions and higher returns on investment; companies reporting stronger returns often integrated AI into workflows rather than relying on headcount cuts.

Workforce experts report that inconsistent or inaccurate AI outputs often require human supervision. Jessica Zhang at an HR provider noted that duplicated work and slower decisions can erode expected productivity gains. Lacey Kaelani of a recruitment platform said many firms are reposting junior roles after customers reacted poorly to automated responses. Career expert Keith Spencer observed that some teams lacked employees able to handle complex customer situations after layoffs.

Executives, HR leaders and research firms continue to track where AI can scale routine work and where human oversight remains necessary. Several companies are hiring and training staff to manage exceptions, ethical questions and complex customer needs that current systems did not resolve.