Does AI change headcount and hiring?

“Before asking for more Headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI.”

Tobi LütkeCo-founder and Chief Executive Officer · Executive, Shopify

“we don't need to grow our headcount. at levels that we did in the past because we're getting so much more output and speed from our existing workforce”

Ellie MertzChief Financial Officer · Executive, Airbnb

“our investment in AI tools and infrastructure is increasing. That will be offset by slower head count growth.”

Dara KhosrowshahiChief Executive Officer · Executive, Uber

“We shipped over 300. new products and features last year alone. We kept our flat headcount, which we're very proud of”

Harley FinkelsteinPresident · Executive, Shopify

“We've obviously been disciplined for three years now. We're, on any given year, we're in fact slightly down from the year before. I don't see that changing.”

Jeff HoffmeisterChief Financial Officer · Executive, Shopify

“Revenue per employee reached $1.24 million, up 3.6 times since 2022 as headcount declined 49%”

KlarnaPublished by the organization itself (regulatory filing), no named author

“For over two years, total headcount has consistently been flattened down, both sequentially and year over year”

Jeff HoffmeisterChief Financial Officer · Executive, Shopify

“We estimate that our AI assistant does the equivalent work of over 700 full-time agents”

KlarnaPublished by the organization itself (regulatory filing), no named author

“Entry-level software engineer work that largely consisted of "here's the ticket, go implement it" can now probably be replaced by some form of AI or factory.”

Noah BlauensteinerAuthor, Xebia articles · Practitioner, Xebia

“I think what I hear from most companies is they say, first step is we give them an exercise and we want them to really go nuts on the … to solve this. … Now, after they pass this, you do a walkthrough and you actually say, please explain me what happened. Why is this a good idea?”

Patrick DeboisProduct DevRel Lead · Practitioner, Tessl

“While it will likely be the outcome in certain jobs, the goal is not fewer headcount; the goal is compounding performance”

JPMorgan ChasePublished by the organization itself (post), no named author

“When hiring for our service team, we were able to rescope the skillset to deemphasize the need for deep workflow expertise.”

Austin LaceyDirector, Chatbots, AI & Automation · Leader, Zendesk

“I've made the decision to reduce our workforce by 8% at Zendesk.”

Tom EggemeierChief Executive Officer · Executive, Zendesk

“We’re reducing the size of our team by around 14%”

Patrick CollisonCEO · Executive, Stripe

“we're not saying, "Wow, we need fewer sellers." We're saying, "So, we need a lot more sellers."”

Will GaybrickPresident, Technology and Business (also styled President of Product and Business) · Executive, Stripe

“It’s got 800 employees working here, fully distributed, far more agents than there are people.”

Wade FosterCo-founder and Chief Executive Officer · Executive, Zapier

“at a minimum, it has allowed us to moderate the pace with which we are adding headcount there.”

Balaji KrishnamurthyChief Financial Officer · Executive, Uber

“850 full-time agents”

KlarnaPublished by the organization itself (regulatory filing), no named author

“We can teach you what to do because we have fully transformed our own customer experience”

Intercom (renamed Fin in May 2026)Published by the organization itself (post), no named author

“AskHR answers 94% of common employee inquiries in minutes or less, without human intervention, any time of the day or night.”

IBMPublished by the organization itself (post), no named author

“The AI agent helped contribute to a 40% reduction in the HR team’s operational costs over the past four years.”

IBMPublished by the organization itself (post), no named author

“From 2020 – 2022, our hiring outpaced our business realities.”

Tom EggemeierChief Executive Officer · Executive, Zendesk

“The reason for that is because I’ve seen the acceleration of AI, and I know we can ship all these things on the existing organization,”

Sebastian SiemiatkowskiChief Executive Officer and co-founder · Executive, Klarna

“will be cutting almost 5pc of its staff worldwide.”

Elaine BurkeFormer editor of Silicon Republic (until 2023) · Outside the organization, Zendesk