Oracle cuts 21,000 jobs in a year, says AI adoption contributed to workforce reduction

Oracle Corp. reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees over the past year, with the company stating that the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies contributed to some of the job reductions.In its annual regulatory filing, Oracle said its global full-time employee count stood at 141,000 as of May 31, down from 162,000 a year earlier. The disclosure provides the clearest indication yet of the scale of workforce reductions undertaken by the software company over the last 12 months."The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce," Oracle said in the filing.The company said the workforce changes led to restructuring expenses of approximately $1.8 billion during the period.Oracle has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure as demand for computing power rises among AI developers and enterprise customers. The company is building data centre capacity to support customers including OpenAI, a strategy that has required significant capital expenditure.Earlier this year, reports indicated that Oracle had begun eliminating thousands of positions as part of broader cost-control measures. However, the company had not previously disclosed the full extent of the reductions.According to the filing, Oracle employed around 49,000 workers in the United States at the end of May, while approximately 92,000 employees were based in international markets.The latest headcount figures also show that Oracle's workforce has fallen below levels seen following its acquisition of electronic health records company Cerner in 2022. The $28 billion deal added thousands of employees to Oracle's payroll, many of them based in the Kansas City region where Cerner maintained its headquarters.The disclosure comes as technology companies continue to evaluate how artificial intelligence can be integrated into business operations. While many firms are increasing investments in AI infrastructure and software development, some companies have also indicated that automation and AI-driven efficiencies could reshape workforce requirements in certain functions.Oracle did not specify which departments or roles were most affected by the reductions, nor did it quantify how many positions were directly impacted by AI adoption. (Inputs from Bloomberg)Also read: X faces widespread outage as user reports cross 31,000 on Downdetector