From May Day To Layoff Day? Rethinking Work In The Age Of AI

On this May Day — a day historically dedicated to the dignity of work — a quiet revolution is underway. It’s not marked by picket lines or labor chants. It’s marked by code. By algorithms. By machines that don’t sleep, don’t call in sick, and don’t need a paycheck. The machines aren’t coming for our jobs — they’re already here and they’re not just cheaper, they’re changing everything.

Artificial Intelligence and automation are no longer the future. They are the present. They are rewriting the rules of labor faster than any industrial revolution before them. And as businesses race to adopt these tools, the central question is no longer if work will change — it’s how fast, how far, and who gets left behind.

This Time, It’s Different

Every technological wave threatens jobs. The printing press. The steam engine. The internet. But Artificial Intelligence is different; Not because it automates physical labor, but because it automates thinking.

Norway’s $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund just saved $100 million by letting AI manage trades. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella says AI now writes 30 percent of its code — and that’s growing. In customer support, AI is expected to handle 95 percent of interactions by the end of 2025.

This is not theoretical. This is happening now.

And while 78 percent of global enterprises already use AI in some form, most have only scratched the surface. What’s coming next will redefine what we even mean by “a job.”

Yes, It’s About Cost — But That’s Not The Point

Let’s get one thing straight: AI is cheaper. Replacing a Level 1 support center with AI reduces cost per ticket dramatically. It’s more scalable. It doesn’t need breaks, training, or sleep.

But focusing on savings alone misses the point. The real power of AI is capability. A single AI agent can handle thousands of interactions simultaneously in any language — instantly. You don’t just get efficiency — you unlock potential that humans alone could never scale. This isn’t just an upgrade. It’s a leap.

Millions Of Jobs At Risk — And Millions More Being Created

A PwC survey found that one in four CEOs expects job cuts of 5 percent or more due to AI. Nearly half of all companies using AI plan layoffs. But it’s not all doom.

The World Economic Forum projects 69 million new jobs created by AI and automation by 2028 — in data science, AI operations, cybersecurity, human–machine collaboration, and more.

So yes, AI will destroy jobs. But it will also create new ones — for those who are ready. The real risk isn’t automation. It’s inertia.

If You’re Still Using Org Charts From 2019, You’ve Already Lost

This isn’t just about adopting AI to satisfy the hype or corporate mandates. It’s about fundamentally reorganizing around it.

The companies that win won’t simply “add” AI. They’ll build teams that blend human judgment with machine speed — and they'll draw their org charts accordingly.

Think beyond departments. Think in terms of output architecture:

• A support team where 80 percent of tickets are resolved by AI — and the humans focus on empathy and edge cases.

• A finance team where reconciliation is automated — and the analysts do scenario modeling, risk strategy and competitive forecasting.

• A marketing team where campaigns are auto-generated and optimized in real time — but brand, ethics and voice are tightly managed by human creatives.

New titles are emerging: Prompt Engineer. AI Product Owner. Automation Strategist. These aren’t experiments — they’re your next key hires.

The Smartest Employees Will Obsolete Themselves Before AI Does

AI isn’t just a tool. It’s your next org layer. And by the same token, individuals who win in this new landscape are the ones who retool, retrain, and take ownership of the shift. They don’t wait for change to reach them — they run toward it. They ask, How can I use AI to do my job better, faster, more efficiently — even if it risks making the old version of my role obsolete?

They become the ones who master the tools that others fear. And in doing so, they don’t just future-proof their careers — they become indispensable.

Case Study: eBay’s Strategic Integration Of AI In E-Commerce And Finance

eBay, a global leader in e-commerce, has effectively harnessed artificial intelligence to revolutionize both its seller experience and internal financial operations. By implementing generative AI tools, eBay streamlined the listing process for over 10 million sellers, enabling automatic generation of item descriptions and attributes from photos. This not only enhanced operational efficiency but also significantly improved the user experience for sellers on the platform.​

In the realm of finance, eBay’s Chief Financial Officer, Brian Priest, spearheaded the adoption of AI to automate complex tasks such as financial reconciliations, contract term extractions, procurement processes, and compliance with global tax regulations. These advancements have elevated productivity and strengthened financial controls within the organization.​

Priest emphasizes the importance of balancing innovation with enterprise safety, advocating for a culture that encourages strategic partnerships and open-mindedness. He advises aspiring CFOs to pursue passion-driven careers, take calculated risks, and actively engage with their company's services to gain deeper operational insights and drive meaningful innovation.

This May Day, Choose Discernment Over Panic

It’s tempting to see AI as a threat to labor. But it’s better viewed as a challenge to old assumptions, as Brian Priest saw it.

Yes — some jobs are going away. That’s reality. But others will be elevated. Rethought. Redeployed. The leaders who win won’t automate for the sake of it — they’ll make surgical, strategic decisions about what to automate, what to augment, and what to protect.

They’ll ask:

• Where does AI bring exponential leverage?

• Where does human empathy or judgment still dominate?

• How can we blend both — and reorganize accordingly?

The future of work is not man or machine. It’s man with machine — working side by side.

The Time To Act Was Yesterday. The Next Best Time Is Now.

May Day once symbolized labor’s power. This May Day, it marks a crossroads.

You can cling to the past — and get disrupted. Or you can reimagine your workforce, redesign your systems, and lead your industry into an AI-driven future.

Because make no mistake: AI won’t wait. Technological progress won’t wait either. It never has and never will. And by the next May Day, those who fail to adapt may be reading their own AI generated pink slips.

This article was originally published in Forbes by Emil Sayegh on May 1, 2025: https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilsayegh/2025/05/01/from-may-day-to-layoff-day-rethinking-work-in-the-age-of-ai/