GM Just Cut 600 IT Jobs But Still Hiring for AI Talent

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We have seen major tech giants making layoffs in 2026, but now even other companies are cutting their tech jobs.

On Monday, General Motors began telling hundreds of salaried IT employees that they were out of a job. 

General Motors Cutting Around 600 IT Jobs

General Motors has laid off 500 to 600 employees, primarily affecting IT salaried workers in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan.

The company has confirmed these cuts to Bloomberg News. 

In the official statement, they said:

“GM is transforming its Information Technology organization to better position the company for the future. As part of that work, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate certain roles globally. 

We are grateful for the contributions of the employees affected and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”

What makes this notable is that GM is not in financial crisis. In fact, the company recently reported strong earnings. That’s why many people see these layoffs as strategic restructuring tied to AI adoption. 

The move also continues a trend at GM. They have already carried out several rounds of layoffs over the last two years, including cuts tied to EV slowdowns and engineering reorganization.

But cost-cutting alone doesn't explain why the company is actively recruiting at the same time it's laying people off. 

That’s where AI comes in.

General Motors Wants IT Workers with AI Skills

General Motors reportedly wants to replace some traditional IT roles with workers who have stronger AI skills.

They are cutting workers whose expertise no longer aligns with the company’s future priorities.

According to TechCrunch, a source familiar with the situation confirmed that GM is still actively filling IT roles, just for entirely different skill sets. 

The company wants people who can build AI from the ground up, not people who just use AI as a productivity shortcut. 

Specifically, the most sought-after capabilities include:

• AI-native development: building software with AI baked in from day one, not bolted on later.
• Data engineering and analytics: making sense of massive streams of vehicle and user data
• Cloud-based engineering: managing infrastructure that lives online, not in a building
• Agent and model development: building autonomous AI systems that can act on their own
• Prompt engineering and new AI workflows: designing how humans and AI systems communicate and collaborate

This is not a list of nice-to-haves. For GM, these are now core requirements.

The old IT worker, the one maintaining legacy databases, managing internal software licenses, or running network infrastructure, is being replaced. Not by machines, but by a professional who knows AI.

If you are in tech, the signal is clear. General skill sets in IT are no longer enough at a company like GM. You have to know AI engineering, model development, and cloud-native architecture.

This is your wake-up call. GM isn't a startup. It's a 117-year-old company that builds physical cars. If they are rebuilding their workforce around AI from the ground up, the shift is already here.

In short, companies are increasingly replacing experienced employees with smaller teams focused on AI and automation skills. 

Bottom Line

This reflects a broader shift happening across the automotive industry, where they are behaving like other software companies. AI integration is becoming a core hiring priority for all of them.

So, on one side, we can argue that GM is modernizing for the AI-driven future; this can also be another example of corporations using AI transformation as justification for reducing headcount.