Amazon, Microsoft, Google power AI behind 49,000 finance layoffs

Roughly $1.5 trillion has flowed into artificial intelligence deployment since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, according to Advisor Perspectives, a sum that matches the projected fiscal year 2027 U.S. defense budget. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are projecting approximately $725 billion in combined capital expenditure as they race to build the infrastructure powering this technological shift, Tom's Hardware reported.

The financial industry sits at the center of that disruption, absorbing both the benefits of AI-powered efficiency and the consequences of widespread workforce displacement associated with automation.

An industry panel of investment veterans and AI practitioners recently gathered to tackle the question that financial professionals everywhere have been asking themselves with growing urgency, Advisor Perspectives noted.

If you work in finance, manage investments, or rely on a financial advisor, the answer to that question will shape the services, career paths, and investment landscape you navigate for years to come.

VettaFi ties $1.5 trillion in AI spending to 49,000 economy-wide job losses

A May 14, 2026, panel discussion hosted by Women in ETFs SoCal and the CFA Society of Orange County, recapped by Advisor Perspectives, brought together four industry professionals to examine whether AI will ultimately replace finance workers or reshape how they operate.

Jane Edmondson, head of index product strategy at TMX VettaFi and co-head of the Women in ETFs SoCal chapter, moderated the session and opened with a stark picture of the scale of corporate AI investment.

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Edmondson noted that the $1.5 trillion directed toward AI deployment since late 2022 is equivalent to the projected 2027 U.S. defense budget confirmed by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, underscoring just how aggressively corporations have committed capital to this technology, Advisor Perspectives reported.

She emphasized that tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are rapidly increasing their capital expenditures and depleting cash reserves while taking on additional debt to fund the AI buildout phase, the report noted.

The human cost of that investment is already evident across the industry, with approximately 49,000 layoffs attributed to AI integration across all sectors in the first four months of 2026, Edmondson told panel attendees, and as indicated by Challenger, Gray, & Christmas.