Artificial intelligence (AI) has indeed come for your jobs, dear people of CrowdStrike. With the cybersecurity giant announcing it would lay off around 500 workers, the CEO George Kurtz made it clear that automation was a factor.
In an 8-K filing, CrowdStrike said on Wednesday it essentially had to lay off people in order to “yield greater efficiencies” and meet its goal of $10 billion in annual recurring revenue.
“These changes position us to move faster, operate more efficiently, and continue our cybersecurity leadership,” wrote Kurtz.
“I know this is difficult news and it affects all of us. These decisions were made with care and guided by a clear view of where we need to go,” added CrowdStrike’s CEO, who made more than $46 million in 2024, according to the AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions in the US.
Then again, with AI coming into play, perhaps this wasn’t a difficult decision at all. In his letter, Kurtz writes that the company “will continue to prudently hire, primarily in customer-facing and product engineering roles,” but “will reduce roles in some areas of the business.”
Which ones? Presumably, the ones where AI can efficiently replace humans. It’s probably no accident that Kurtz points out: “We’re operating in a market and technology inflection point, with AI reshaping every industry, accelerating threats, and evolving customer needs.”
The pressure is indeed growing on tech firms to balance headcount growth with automation as AI becomes more deeply embedded in enterprise software. That’s precisely what Kurtz mentions, too.
“AI flattens our hiring curve, and helps us innovate from idea to product faster. It streamlines go-to-market, improves customer outcomes, and drives efficiencies across both the front and back office. AI is a force multiplier throughout the business,” he wrote.
CrowdStrike hasn’t specified which departments or regions will be affected. The company employs more than 10,000 people globally and has particularly expanded aggressively in Israel, where it has acquired five companies since 2020.
Affected employees will be contacted within days. CrowdStrike will provide severance, continued health benefits, and access to career support.
“To those leaving CrowdStrike: thank you. We’re grateful for your contributions to our mission,” Kurtz’s letter reads.
Last summer, CrowdStrike hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. A faulty software update provided by CrowdStrike Falcon crashed 8.5 million Windows systems worldwide and sent many critical services into disarray.
US lawmakers called Kurtz to testify on Capitol Hill. He didn’t, sending CrowdStrike’s senior vice president of counter-adversary operations in his place.
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