The Underdog Files

Laid Off for AI, Asked Back by HR: The Boomerang Comes With Terms

Companies that laid off workers and blamed artificial intelligence are now calling some of them back. A survey from the talent firm SHL, fielded in June and July, found that about one in five U.S. workers laid off or replaced by AI had since been asked to return to their former employer. The corporate story was that the machine could do the job. The rehiring story is that it often could not, and the people who knew that were already out the door.

Barclays Cuts 5,000 Jobs and Calls AI the Icing

Barclays said Thursday it will cut about 5,000 jobs, roughly 5% of its global workforce, by the end of the year. About 1,000 are already gone. The bank reported a third-quarter pre-tax profit of £2.3 billion, up 12%. And when asked about artificial intelligence, its

A dim open-plan office at dusk where a worker at a desk is half dissolving into circuit lines, storm clouds over the skyline outside

Goldman Says AI Could Displace One in 11 Workers. The Layoffs Are Waiting for a Recession.

Goldman Sachs published a note on Thursday saying that up to 9% of workers in developed economies could be displaced by AI, roughly one in eleven when slower hiring is counted. The number is not the news. The timing is: the bank says the damage is likely to wait for

Your Insurance Company Uses an Algorithm to Deny Claims. Here's the Algorithm.

The doctor spent 1.2 seconds reviewing your claim. That's not an estimate. That's the documented average, pulled from internal Cigna records obtained by ProPublica. In the time it takes to blink twice, a physician employed by your insurance company decided whether you needed medical care.

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