The Guardian reports that Barclays is cutting 5,000 jobs, about 5% of its 93,000 global staff, as part of cost-saving plans its bosses say are driven by advances in AI. CNBC reports that American Express is cutting 5% of its workforce to ‘prepare for AI’ and taking a $336 million restructuring charge. This suggests that large employers are tying staffing decisions to AI plans. [1] [2]

Dark Reading reports that the UAE says it is creating a foundation of security and safety as it transitions 50% of government services to agentic AI. InfoWorld reports that the US Secretary of Homeland Security banned all DeepSeek products from federal agencies, which must purge them within 60 days. This suggests that governments are shaping AI use in public services through both adoption and restriction. [3] [4]

CBS News reports that banks have detected personal AI agent activity inside customers’ accounts while experts warn about the risks of oversharing with AI. Dark Reading reports that Microsoft’s Project Perception adds Guardian Agents to monitor and contain anomalous AI agents, but experts warn that policing unpredictable agents with other agents may multiply the risk. This suggests that agents acting for customers and companies are raising new questions about who controls them. [5] [6]

Pew Research Center reports that men’s employment grew faster than women’s in occupations most exposed to AI, a gap driven largely by workers without a bachelor’s degree. This suggests that the gains in AI-exposed work are not evenly shared across gender and education. [7]

The Guardian reports that experts doubt an Anthropic report on how AI has altered work, noting that Dario Amodei’s earlier predictions that AI could eliminate half of entry-level white-collar jobs and write 90% of code did not come to pass. Fox News reports that the Fifth Circuit called a judge’s handling of an anti-DEI case a ‘botch job’ riddled with AI hallucinations and errors. This suggests that claims about AI at work are being checked against outcomes. [8] [9]