Due to AI conversion: Crowdstrike plans to cut 500 jobs worldwide
Crowdstrike is laying off five percent of its workforce. CEO Kurtz justifies this with a change due to AI. However, not all areas of the company are affected.
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The IT security service provider Crowdstrike has announced the reduction of around 500 jobs, which corresponds to around five percent of its global workforce. This is according to an internal circular from CEO George Kurtz, which the company published in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to Kurtz, the background to this decision is the restructuring required due to artificial intelligence so that Crowdstrike can operate faster and more efficiently in the future.
"We are at a turning point where AI is reshaping every industry, threats are increasing and customer needs are changing," writes the CEO in the letter to his employees. In order to remain competitive in the future, a further development of the way of working is necessary, for which AI has always been a basis. While he cites the use of AI as the reason for the redundancies and says that AI "flattens our recruitment curve", he also emphasizes that the technology helps to turn ideas into a market-ready product.
Customer service and product development not affected
It is not clear from the letter in which departments the job cuts will take place. However, not all areas of the company are affected by the redundancies. Crowdstrike still intends to advertise new positions in customer support and product development in the future. Kurtz announced that the affected employees would be informed promptly. The company, which has 10,000 employees, is still aiming for an annual turnover of 10 billion US dollars. Crowdstrike expects the redundancies to cost between 36 and 53 million US dollars by the second quarter of the 2026 financial year.
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In addition to Crowdstrike, other companies in the IT sector are also cutting numerous jobs due to AI. US software company Salesforce, for example, recently terminated the contracts of around 1,000 employees and is not planning any new hires. The Swedish payment service provider Klarna reduced the number of its employees by 22% within a year and had their tasks taken over by AI. According to a Microsoft study, around three quarters of companies in Germany are currently planning to hire AI agents as digital workers.
(sfe)
