Intuit’s CEO Just Said AI Is the Reason He’s Laying Off 1,800 Employees. His Memo Is the Worst I’ve Seen Yet

I’ve written a number of times about CEOs sending out an all-company memo detailing how the company is laying off employees. It’s not a fun thing to write about, but I do think it’s important, especially as there are lessons every leader can learn from these cases. 

The latest example comes from Intuit’s CEO, Sasan Goodarzi, who announced the company would lay off around 1,800 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce. Interestingly, Goodarzi says the move isn’t about cutting costs. Instead, it’s about freeing up money for “additional investments to our most critical areas to support our customers and drive growth as detailed below.”

As for where that growth is coming from, Goodarzi is pretty clear:

As I’ve shared many times, the era of AI is one of the most significant technology shifts of our lifetime. This is truly an extraordinary time — AI is igniting global innovation at an incredible pace, transforming every industry and company in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Companies that aren’t prepared to take advantage of this AI revolution will fall behind and, over time, will no longer exist.

In fact, Goodarzi goes on to explain that, while he’s laying off 1,800 people, the company plans to hire that same number of employees “primarily in engineering, product, and customer-facing roles such as sales, customer success, and marketing.” With the inclusion of “engineering,” the implication is pretty clear. 

“With the introduction of GenAI, we are now delivering even more compelling customer experiences, increasing monetization potential, and driving efficiencies in how the work gets done within Intuit,” Goodarzi said. “But it’s just the beginning of the AI revolution.”

Look, I get that there are no good ways to lay off 1,800 people. There are no good ways to tell that many people that they no longer have a job. It’s especially rough considering that it’s not that these employees weren’t doing their job, the company just decided it no longer needs them to do that job. 

“We deeply understand the impact these decisions have on our friends and colleagues who will be leaving,” Goodarzi wrote. “We are very grateful for the great work they have done and the amazing contributions they have made while at Intuit. “

The thing is, I’m not sure that’s true. I’m not sure that a CEO who keeps their job can possibly understand what it’s like to be an employee who loses a job they depend on to pay their mortgage and feed their kids. Also, if you’re changing your strategy that dramatically, it shouldn’t just be the people you hired who pay the price. If you’re a leader and you make a change in strategy which results in that many people losing their jobs, yours should be one of them. 

Look, I get that AI has fundamentally changed the way most companies are thinking about, well, everything. Tech companies are racing to incorporate AI into every product, sometimes with questionable results. It’s not surprising considering how much attention — and money — is being focused on companies like OpenAI. 

But this is Intuit. I’m not saying AI isn’t going to change the way people do spreadsheets and budgeting. I’m sure it will. But that doesn’t change the fact that firing a bunch of employees so you can jump on the shiny new thing is not only a bad look, it’s bad leadership.