Mark Ma, University of Pittsburgh professor and researcher on the AI layoff study, said leaders are focused on short-term performance, “which is why they tried to rush ahead by investing in AI and laying off workers”.

But companies’ share prices tend to dip after they announce AI-related layoffs, he noted, suggesting that “the stock market also does not think these will work out.”

The night before Will Moye was set to face 3M in court over a 2020 gas explosion at a Houston manufacturing plant that killed three and damaged hundreds of homes and businesses, the attorney received a report from the company’s independent expert witness.

Skimming on his iPad, Moye noticed telltale signs of AI: strange formatting and fonts and time stamps showing that 14,500 pages were assembled in a matter of hours. Moye suspected that the author, Josh Autenrieth of Knighthawk Engineering, lacked expertise and had relied on ChatGPT, despite billing 3M $90,000 for a report arguing the company was not liable.

Autenrieth’s chat logs, which Moye requested and shared in court, show he prompted ChatGPT, “What am I looking at?” after uploading a picture of the gas detector at the heart of the case.