Bird says AI helped cut its workforce from over 1,000 to about 120

In short: Some companies say AI is letting them do more work with fewer people, and Bird is one example.

What's going on

Bird, a communications infrastructure company founded in Amsterdam, says it has sharply reduced its workforce while relying more on AI and automation. CEO Robert Vis said the company went from more than 1,000 employees to about 120 over roughly three years.

Vis said this was not only about layoffs. He described a change in how the company organizes work. Bird now values employees who can work independently across different tasks, instead of work being split into many separate teams.

He also said AI tools are taking over more routine work in areas like customer support, sales, and accounting. In simple terms, the company is using software to handle repetitive jobs, like having a fast assistant that can answer common questions or prepare basic paperwork.

Bird reported $165 million in EBITDA in 2025. EBITDA is a profit-like number companies use to show how the core business is doing before some costs are counted. That figure does not, by itself, prove how much of Bird’s results came from AI.

The bigger idea, that AI is already boosting productivity while shrinking staff, is still debated. Anthropic, an AI company, has said its “AI agents” (software that can carry out tasks on its own) were doing more hours of work than its employees by March 2026. A 2026 Workday survey found 40% of business leaders expected AI to help them get more from current employees, while 28% expected it to reduce headcount.

What to watch

More companies may publicly share headcount changes tied to AI, but it may stay hard to measure cause and effect. Watch for clearer reporting on which jobs are being automated, and what new roles are created to manage and check AI output.

Source: NYTimes