Survey reveals that 99% of CEOs now expect AI-driven layoffs — companies are racing to replace junior workers with AI, even as many executives remain uncertain about the returns on AI investments
A recent survey indicates that 99% of CEOs anticipate AI-driven layoffs in the near future, particularly affecting junior workers. The report highlights a significant decline in entry-level hiring as companies increasingly automate routine tasks. Despite the push for AI, many executives express uncertainty regarding the actual returns on their investments in automation.
- ▪The Mercer survey covered 12,000 executives and revealed that most expect AI to lead to headcount reductions within two years.
- ▪Young professionals aged 22 to 27 are at the highest risk of job displacement due to automation targeting entry-level tasks.
- ▪Only 32% of executives believe their companies can effectively integrate human labor with AI systems, despite the push for automation.
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| Original publisher | Tom's Hardware |
| Canonical URL | https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/survey-reveals-that-99-percent-of-ceos-now-expect-ai-driven-layoffs-companies-are-racing-to-replace-junior-workers-with-ai-even-as-many-executives-remain-uncertain-about-the-returns-on-ai-investments |
| Publication time | Tue, 26 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-26T10:02:47.840Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-26T10:02:47.840Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | bpWptszryrD3 |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Tech Industry Artificial Intelligence Survey reveals that 99% of CEOs now expect AI-driven layoffs — companies are racing to replace junior workers with AI, even as many executives remain uncertain about the returns on AI investments News By Etiido Uko published 26 May 2026 Entry-level hiring is collapsing, as an entire generation risks being locked out of the workforce When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Getty Images) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter A recent study by consulting firm Mercer has revealed that an unprecedented 99% of CEOs envision…
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