New York —Block, the company behind Square, Cash App and Afterpay, is cutting its staff by 40%. The cuts come as AI has reshaped jobs across the tech sector and is raising concerns about the future of the job market. Companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Verizon have all made sweeping cuts in the last year tangentially related to AI. Many of the companies that are cutting hordes of jobs – and blaming it on AI – had swelled in size during the pandemic years, when tech companies were meeting demand for online services. The cuts come amid rising concerns about how AI will impact the workforce as AI giants like Anthropic and OpenAI continue to push out new enterprise tools.

Source: CNN February 27, 2026 03:16 UTC