Companies Rehire for Roles Once Cut by AI: The 'AI Boomerang' Effect

A phenomenon dubbed the AI boomerang is emerging among U.S. companies.

Businesses that laid off employees under the belief that artificial intelligence could replace them are now rehiring for the same roles after finding that things went wrong.

According to a survey by recruitment firm Robert Half, 32 percent of hiring managers reported that they have rehired or are currently rehiring for positions where staff were previously laid off due to AI.

[Dawn Fay / President, Robert Half: Companies are actually bringing employees back into the organization to handle the tasks they thought AI could replace.]

Forrester, an IT consulting firm, released survey results showing that 55 percent of executives who laid off staff due to AI regret their decision.

Gartner, another consulting firm, projects that 50 percent of companies that conducted layoffs in customer service and operations will return to their original staffing levels by 2027.

The reason for this trend is that while companies believed AI could fully replace humans, the technology failed to understand corporate culture or informal work practices, ultimately leading to customer dissatisfaction.

[Dawn Fay / President, Robert Half: Communicating, making judgments, supervising, and the organizational knowledge that employees possess could not be fully replaced by technology.]

Furthermore, the fact that maintaining and supervising artificial intelligence incurs significant costs is only now being highlighted.

Experts analyze that in the mid-to-long term, AI will be used more to enhance employee capabilities, while the value of individuals who can effectively instruct and supervise AI will continue to rise.

(Video reporting: Lee Hee-hoon, Video editing: Kim Jong-mi)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.