Cloudflare Cuts 1,100 Jobs After Internal AI Usage Jumps 600% in Three Months
What Happened
Cloudflare announced cuts of more than 1,100 employees globally — roughly 20% of staff. Leadership disclosed that internal AI tool usage had grown over 600% in the prior three months and that the headcount reduction reflected actual productivity gains rather than cost-cutting theater. Other firms cutting in May include BILL (30%), Upwork (~25%), PayPal (20% over 2-3 years), and Meta (8,000 on May 20).
My Take
Most "AI layoffs" are euphemisms for normal cost-cutting. Cloudflare is the outlier — they showed the receipts. The 600% internal usage number is the metric every CFO will start asking for, and it's going to be weaponized against any team that can't show similar adoption. Knowledge workers who haven't put 10+ hours into actually integrating AI into their daily workflow are now visibly in the bottom quartile of their company. This is no longer optional career hygiene.
Read Original Source