Barclays cuts 5,000 jobs as banks redirect spending toward AI Barclays is cutting about 5,000 jobs, or 5% of its workforce, to fund AI-driven efficiency, the latest in a wave of AI-related layoffs at major companies. Barclays is cutting about 5,000 jobs, or roughly 5% of its workforce, the British bank and financial services company revealed in a quarterly financial report this week. The layoffs are tied to a push toward organizational simplification and technology change efficiency driven by artificial intelligence. Approximately 60% of the cuts will come from support functions, including developers. Financial institutions are among the most active in deploying AI, in many cases at the expense of workers. Norway's DNB and Germany's Commerzbank have also announced job cuts alongside their own AI pushes.The move reflects a broader trend at major companies: redirecting money once spent on workers so that more capital can be devoted to boosting AI capabilities. The question of just how much money is being spent on AI remains a hot topic as firms across industries announce layoffs or hiring reductions tied to massive AI spending.Kroger Cuts Jobs To Boost AI StrategyAt Kroger, the national grocery chain plans to cut corporate employees over the next three years as it ramps up its use of artificial intelligence. CEO Greg Foran wrote in a memo to employees that technology is reshaping what's possible. He said the way work gets done is changing across every industry and the company must adapt, take advantage of technology, adopt capabilities, reduce duplicative work, and look closely at where work is best fit to be done.Kroger last month outlined its AI strategy, meant to improve the customer experience, make work easier for associates, and produce better business outcomes. The Cincinnati company is the largest standalone U.S. supermarket chain, with 409,000 employees and more than 2,700 stores operating under brands including Ralphs, King Soopers, Smith's, and Fred Meyer. Meta is cutting about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.Meta Layoffs Drive Massive AI Infrastructure CostsThe company said in April that it was making the cuts for efficiency and to allow new investments in parts of its business. Bloomberg first reported the cuts and said the company will leave about 6,000 jobs unfilled. Meta had already warned investors that its 2026 expenses will grow significantly, to as much as $169 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation, particularly for the artificial intelligence experts it has been hiring.The company planned to make the offers in early May to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak about it publicly. Microsoft has spent billions of dollars operating an ever-expanding global network of data centers powering cloud computing services, AI systems, and its own suite of productivity tools, including the AI assistant Copilot.Standard Chartered And Coinbase Cut Staff For AutomationThe U.K.-based bank Standard Chartered is planning to cut more than 15% of its back office employees by 2030. Standard Chartered said in May that it was scaling practical uses of automation, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence to streamline processes, improve decision-making, and enhance both client service and internal efficiency. The cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase is cutting approximately 14% of its workforce partly due to AI.In a message, its leader wrote that over the past year he has watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many workflows are being automated. The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it is accelerating every day. He said the company is adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native.Pinterest announced in January that it planned to lay off under 15% of its workforce as part of a broader restructuring as the image-sharing platform pivots more of its money to artificial intelligence. In a securities filing, the company said it was making the cuts to support transformation initiatives, which include reallocating resources to AI-focused roles and prioritizing AI-powered products. It said it was also working to reshape its sales and go-to-market approach.Pinterest And Block Redirect Funds To Artificial IntelligenceThe company said the headcount reduction is designed to further streamline operations and reallocate resources toward highest-priority initiatives, leveraging increased operational efficiencies to accelerate its path toward net-income profitability. Block is laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000-plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence. The core thesis is simple, Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App.He said a significantly smaller team, using the tools we're building, can do more and do it better. Dorsey's comments explicitly naming AI as a key driver behind the decision were also posted on X, or Twitter, a company he co-founded. The announcement has sent shares of the company sharply higher this year, up 19%, reversing a 12% decline in the previous year.The wave of cuts shows how spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and talent is changing the way major companies allocate resources. In many cases, it means an end to some jobs once done by humans, while money once spent on workers is repurposed to boost AI capabilities. Barclays joins a growing list of companies across banking, retail, technology, and crypto that have announced layoffs or hiring reductions this year tied in some way to massive spending on AI.