GM Lays Off 600 IT Workers to Hire AI Specialists
General Motors has dismissed around 600 salaried employees, representing more than 10% of its IT workforce, to prioritize hiring individuals with skills centered on artificial intelligence. The layoffs were confirmed to TechCrunch, following an initial report by Bloomberg News, and are part of a broader transformation within GM's IT sector. The company is actively seeking candidates for IT positions that require expertise in AI-native development and data engineering. In the last 18 months, GM has reduced its white-collar staff to enhance its AI initiatives, including a reduction of roughly 1,000 software employees in August 2024. Notable appointments include Behrad Toghi as AI lead in October and Rashed Haq as vice president of autonomous vehicles.
Key facts
- GM laid off about 600 IT workers, over 10% of its IT department.
- The layoffs are a skills swap to hire workers with AI expertise.
- GM is hiring for roles in AI-native development, data engineering, cloud engineering, agent and model development, prompt engineering, and AI workflows.
- In August 2024, GM cut about 1,000 software workers.
- Sterling Anderson was hired as chief product officer in May 2025.
- Three top software executives left in November 2025: Baris Cetinok, Dave Richardson, and Barak Turovsky.
- Behrad Toghi was hired as AI lead in October 2025.
- Rashed Haq was hired as VP of autonomous vehicles; he previously worked at Cruise.
Entities
Institutions
- General Motors
- TechCrunch
- Bloomberg News
- Aurora
- Cisco
- Apple
- Cruise