A third of Britain’s scale-up founders are expected to cut jobs in the next year as AI adoption accelerates, new data suggests.
A new report by Helm found 33 per cent of founders expect AI to lead job cuts in their business within the next twelve months.
Nearly two-thirds, or 64 per cent, said they did not expect redundancies, while three per cent were unsure.
More striking however, 58 per cent said they were already delaying or reducing new hires as a result of increased AI adoption. Just over a third said they were not.
That sentiment has been felt within the tech sector, which has recently endured another global wave of redundancies.
Separate analysis by RationalFX found that over 30,000 tech employees have been laid off wince the start of 2026, with 24,600 of those cuts in the US alone.
Amazon has announced 16,000 job reductions this year, following already 14,000 redundancies made back in October.
This is despite reporting record revenues of $716.9bn last year.
Meta has similarly cut around 1,500 roles in its Reality Labs division, while companies like Ericsson, ASML and Salesforce have all announced headcount cuts.
Andrea Adamides, chief executive of Helm, said: “AI is forcing business leaders to make some difficult decisions about jobs and hiring.”
“Many founders are under pressure to move fast, stay competitive, and rethink roles as automation accelerates”.
Hiring freezes over mass layoffs
The data suggests that many founders are opting for slowing recruitment rather than making large-scale redundancies.
In the UK, the past twelve months has seen cooling vacancies and rising caution on permanent hiring, as firms weigh higher costs and technological change.
Josha Wohle, chief executive of AI training firm Mindstone, said: “AI has the potential to be transformational for British business, but the skills gap is making people focus on automation, which is where technology has historically made a difference”.
“Automation leads to job losses versus augmentation that moves the top line. Ultimately, this comes down to training”.
The survey also exposes growing scepticism about whether the UK is ready for this shift.
Just 3.5 per cent of founders reportedly believe the workforce is adequately prepared for widespread adoption. An alarming 93 per cent, however, said it is not.
This sentiment has only been amplified by increasingly bold predictions from industry leaders.
Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman recently said he believes AI will reach “human performance on most, if not all, professional tasks” in white-collar fields within 12 to 18 months.
“Most of those tasks will be fully automated by AI within the next 12 to 18 months”.
