Barclays to cut five thousand jobs amid AI deployment

One of the largest financial conglomerates in the UK and the world, Barclays, is cutting 5,000 jobs through the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into work processes, the BBC reports.

The bank has already cut 1,000 jobs and plans to eliminate another 4,000 by the end of the year. As a result, the cuts will affect about 5% of employees worldwide.

Barclays said the changes were the result of an ongoing modernization plan, and the use of AI was the “cherry on the cake” of their strategy. While not all of the cuts are related to artificial intelligence, the scale of the cuts adds to concerns about the impact of new technologies on the labor market.

Barclays CEO Venkat Venkatakrishnan said the company is cutting jobs through investments in technology that simplify and improve its operations.

“Artificial intelligence plays an important role and may play an even more important role in the future. We will use AI on a large scale, but AI is the cherry on the cake, not the cake itself. Because to get the benefits from artificial intelligence, it is necessary to create the appropriate infrastructure, he said.

Barclays said about 60 per cent of the job cuts would affect support units, including developers, and efficiency measures would save another £1.1bn in 2027.

In April 2026, RBC reported that the largest American banks cut about 15 thousand employees, and their profits grew by 18%. Companies from different industries have also started talking openly about replacing workers with AI agents.