Gallup: Non-AI Users Face 3x Layoff Risk

What did Gallup find about AI use and layoff risk?

Gallup research finds that US tech workers who don't use AI regularly face three times the layoff risk of those who do. Among tech workers who use AI at least monthly, the predicted probability of being laid off is about 6%. For workers who use it less often, that figure jumps to 18%, according to reporting by Bloomberg via the Straits Times.

The estimates come from a February 2026 survey of more than 23,000 US workers. That pool included 660 respondents who reported being unemployed after their jobs were eliminated.

How did Gallup build the model?

Gallup collected data on how often both employed and displaced workers used AI — ranging from daily to not at all. Researchers then ran a statistical model to estimate how factors like AI-use frequency and industry were linked to the likelihood of job loss.

The link between AI use and job security held even after controlling for age, education, and the sector in which a worker is employed. That finding led the researchers to conclude that employees who don't use AI are "more vulnerable in the job market."

Does the same risk apply outside tech?

Yes, though the gap is smaller. Outside the tech industry, infrequent AI users also face a higher layoff risk than peers who use the tools regularly. The Gallup report did not publish specific probability figures for non-tech sectors.

You might also like

SpaceX Eyes $20B Bond Sale Ahead of 2026 IPO

OpenAI o3 Solves 18 Pediatric Rare-Disease Cases

Amazon May Sell Trainium Chips Directly to Rivals

Microsoft Sells OpenAI Models to ByteDance, Hitting $1B

Here's what we know so far: the data points to AI adoption becoming a dividing line inside companies across multiple industries, not just in tech.

What reasons do laid-off workers actually give?

Only about 1% of laid-off workers in the survey attributed their job loss directly to AI. The most commonly cited reasons were organisational restructuring, cost-cutting, and economic conditions.

Jim Harter, chief scientist for Gallup's workplace management and wellbeing practices, said that result was surprising. "They didn't just blame AI," Harter said. Gallup's researchers noted the 1% figure may "understate AI's indirect influence" in companies' layoff decisions.

What are companies saying about AI and layoffs?

The picture looks different from the employer side. AI was the top reason companies cited for job cuts in May 2026, accounting for about 40% of such announcements, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That creates a clear disconnect between how workers and executives explain the same layoffs.

Employers are already screening job candidates for AI fluency. The Gallup report suggests the technology may also be shaping which workers companies choose to retain when they downsize.

AI layoff risk: key figures at a glance

Should companies tie performance reviews to AI usage?

Harter pushed back on that idea. Some employers may already be tracking how often workers prompt a chatbot in a given week. "I don't think that's the right direction," Harter said. Tying evaluations to raw AI usage could push employees to overuse tools just to game the metric. "The real bottom line is: Are they more productive?" Harter said.

The concern echoes broader debates in the AI capex spending discussion — whether investment in AI tools translates to measurable output gains, or just signals adoption.

Executives continue to press employees to use AI even as public perception of the technology has soured and concerns about job losses have grown. The Gallup findings suggest that pressure is now showing up in retention decisions, not just hiring.

For context on how AI models are being evaluated before deployment, see coverage of OpenAI deployment simulation practices. And as AI-capable workers become more valuable, the competition among AI providers to win enterprise users is intensifying — a dynamic visible in Perplexity's revenue growth and the broader race among AI summit participants to shape workforce policy.

The most concrete takeaway from the Gallup data: among US tech workers, the difference between using AI at least monthly and using it less often is associated with a 12 percentage-point gap in predicted layoff probability — 6% versus 18%.