Starbucks Drops AI As Meta And Intuit Cut 11,000 Jobs

InnovationAIStarbucks Drops AI As Meta And Intuit Cut 11,000 JobsBySandy Carter,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Sandy Carter, COO at Unstoppable, Top 10 Microsoft MSN AI EntrepreneurFollow AuthorMay 22, 2026, 03:03pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Mega tech companies are firing humans, while others like Starbucks are actually firing their AI systems! (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)Getty ImagesStarbucks just fired its AI, and the timing tells a bigger story about the polite narrative circulating in boardrooms and on conference stages right now. It goes like this. Automation is not destroying jobs, it is simply transitioning them. Whether it is in tech or healthcare, workers will move into new, higher-value roles. The labor market will rebalance. Everyone will be fine.After a year of conversations with CHROs, CFOs, and CEOs across 92 countries, the data on the ground tells a different story. The wave of AI layoffs hitting knowledge workers is not a transition. It is the early signal of a pattern that deserves a name.The AI Layoffs Are Not What The Transition Story PromisedPer the New York Times, Meta cut 8,000 people this week to fund its push into AI. Intuit is cutting 17 percent of its workforce. Oracle, Amazon, Cisco, and Atlassian have followed with tens of thousands more. These are knowledge workers, the very people the transition narrative said would be safe. Warehouse workers being retrained for robotics is one story. This is a different one.Meta is letting go of workers in favor of AI platforms and tools. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesThis is a balance sheet reset driven by AI.MORE FOR YOUThe Macro Data Is Catching Up And Reveals Patters From Starbucks and MetaLong-term unemployment in the United States is rising, and recent graduates are feeling it first. The New York Fed re...