Two major financial companies just slashed thousands of jobs while posting huge profits, and they're blaming AI for the shift.

• American Express is cutting about 3,500 jobs, and Barclays is cutting 5,000, both citing AI-driven restructuring and efficiency.
• American Express made close to $4 billion in profit last quarter alone, showing these cuts aren't about financial distress but about investor pressure to keep boosting margins.
• Microsoft is separately pushing buyout offers to 60,000 employees, adding to a wave of white-collar layoffs tied to AI adoption.
• Neither the US nor UK government has outlined any plan for the wave of unemployment AI could cause, raising fears of a sharp rise in joblessness with no safety net in place.
• Coders and other skilled workers are already losing jobs to AI systems that can now write code themselves, undercutting the value of expensive degrees.

Outlook: Expect more large employers to announce AI-linked layoffs in the coming quarters, with growing pressure on governments to address rising unemployment.