Gartner’s report found that organisations need to invest in a workforce that can lead the transition to autonomous capabilities.

Over the course of the last year, there have been a range of high-profile layoffs as a result of the continued investment into AI and its capabilities. 

Recently Cloudflare announced plans to cut 20pc of its workforce after AI usage at the company grew by 600pc in three months and in April social media and tech platform Meta told staff that it will be laying off 10pc of its workforce, roughly 8,000 employees, reportedly as a means of mitigating the costs of heavy AI spending. Similarly, Snap is laying off 16pc of its workforce to cut costs and focus on AI. 

Gartner surveyed 350 globally dispersed business executives in the third quarter of 2025, to better understand the state of autonomous business at enterprises. Qualifying organisations reported enterprise-wide annual revenue of at least $1bn or the equivalent and had been piloting or had already deployed either an AI agent, intelligent automation or autonomous technologies.

Of the organisations taking part in the piloting or deployment of autonomous business capabilities, roughly 80pc admitted to reducing their workforce. Gartner’s research found that these reductions do not appear to translate to a return on investment (ROI) for the organisations making the changes. 

The survey found that workforce reduction rates were nearly equal among respondents that reported a higher ROI from autonomous technologies and those that experienced only modest gains or negative outcomes.

Commenting on the findings of the report, Helen Poitevin, a distinguished vice-president and analyst at Gartner said, “Many CEOs turn to layoffs to demonstrate quick AI returns, however, this disposition is misplaced.

“Workforce reductions may create budget room, but they do not create return. Organisations that improve ROI are not those that eliminate the need for people, but those that amplify them by aggressively investing more in skills, roles and operating models that allow humans to guide and scale autonomous systems.”

Despite the increased layoffs as a result of AI adoption, Gartner’s research suggested that, while autonomous business will continue to increase alongside AI agent software spending, “the need for people will go up, not down”. To that point, Gartner predicts that “autonomous business will be a net-positive job creator by 2028 to 2029, driven by new forms of work that AI cannot absorb”.

“Long term, autonomous business will create more work for humans, not less. Lasting structural factors such as demographic decline and high-stakes, trust-dependent consumer moments will ensure human talent remains central to running, governing and scaling autonomous business,” said Poitevin.

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