I just learned that Thomson Reuters is planning to cut a small number of engineering jobs, specifically up to 500 roles globally. This is about 1.8% of their total workforce, which is around 27,100 employees, and it hits their operations and technology unit particularly hard at 5.2%. The reason behind these layoffs seems to be their push to integrate artificial intelligence into their workflows to keep up with customer demands in legal, tax, and regulatory areas. Interestingly, despite these cuts, the company is also looking to hire more than 250 new engineering roles over the next two years, focusing on senior positions and talent that is well-versed in AI. This seems to be part of a larger trend in the tech industry, where companies are letting go of staff while simultaneously seeking out new hires with specialized skills in AI. It feels like a mixed message, especially when I see comments pointing out the irony of cutting jobs now only to seek out 'AI-native' developers later. The job market is definitely feeling the strain.