According to Bloomberg, a report released by Deloitte on Wednesday targeting chief financial officers (CFOs) shows that large companies in the UK are preparing to replace human workers with artificial intelligence in the coming year. 52% of CFOs surveyed expect to use AI to cut staff; more surprisingly, 67% of respondents admitted that the changes brought by AI have only fulfilled a quarter of their expectations—technology is still in its early stages, yet the knife is already raised.

Deloitte surveyed 66 CFOs between September 17 and October 1, including 12 from the FTSE 100 and 25 from the FTSE 250. The report corroborates the emerging trend of "growth without employment": AI adoption combined with high injury costs means companies are not expanding by hiring extensively, leading to long-term unemployment and a youth unemployment rate reaching a new high in over a decade. It's ironic that all this is happening in an economy growing significantly faster than its European counterparts.

The minister promises "not to leave ordinary people alone," but the profit calculation remains unclear

This poses a challenge for the Labour government led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and puts AI minister Kanishka Narayan at the center of the storm. During a speech on Monday, he promised, "We will never let ordinary workers bear the cost of the AI revolution alone," and acknowledged the public's concerns about their jobs and the future of the next generation.

However, while companies are using AI to reduce costs, they cannot determine whether this investment will lead to profits—only one-third of CFOs believe AI will increase profitability in the coming year. Meanwhile, a report released this week by the London training platform Multiverse, founded by Euan Blair, highlights the core issue: companies keep investing in AI tools but hardly train employees on how to use them. "Very few companies know what their employees can actually do with AI," leading to wasted investments. Although technology can be purchased, the capability is lacking, which may be the real concern in the UK workforce.