General Motors laid off 600 IT workers in what it's calling a "transformation" for the future. The auto giant confirmed to TechCrunch that the cuts represent more than 10% of its IT department.
The layoffs are selective. GM is still hiring for IT roles, but only for positions in AI-native development, data engineering, cloud-based architecture, agent and model development, prompt engineering, and next-gen AI workflows.
This is GM's second major IT purge in less than a year. The company laid off around 1,000 software workers in August 2024 and has been reshuffling its white-collar ranks for the past year and a half as it pivots toward AI.
The reshuffling accelerated after Sterling Anderson — co-founder of autonomous trucking startup Aurora — became chief product officer in May 2025. He consolidated GM's scattered tech operations, leading three top executives to leave: Baris Cetinok, Dave Richardson, and Barak Turovsky, a former Cisco VP who spent nine months as GM's chief AI officer.
Since then, GM has hired AI talent from outside. Behrad Toghi joined as AI lead in October after working at Apple. Rashed Haq, who spent five years at Cruise managing AI and robotics, became vice president of autonomous vehicles.
GM's restructuring reflects how large enterprises are rebuilding workforces for AI: not adding AI capabilities to existing teams, but overhauling staff from the ground up.
