Detroit Three Automakers Have Cut More Than 20,000 U.S. Salaried Jobs as AI Reshapes the Industry

General Motors, Ford Motor, and Stellantis have together eliminated more than 20,000 U.S. salaried positions — roughly 19% of their combined white-collar workforces — from recent employment peaks this decade, underscoring how artificial intelligence and broader technological shifts are accelerating workforce reductions at America's largest automakers.

The figures come from public filings and employment data compiled from the three companies.

GM has led the reductions, cutting approximately 11,000 U.S. salaried positions between 2022 and last year. The company had previously expanded its American white-collar headcount from 48,000 workers in 2020 to 58,000 in 2022 before reversing course. Ford has scaled back by roughly 5,300 workers from its 2020 peak, leaving it with approximately 30,700 white-collar employees last year. Stellantis shrank from 15,000 salaried workers in 2020 to about 11,000 over the same period.

On a combined basis, white-collar employment at the Detroit Three peaked at roughly 102,000 jobs in 2022. By the end of last year, that figure had fallen 13%, to 88,700 people.

GM added to those totals this week, laying off between 500 and 600 salaried workers globally, largely in information technology operations in Texas and Michigan, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously about details that had not been made public. Those cuts were partially driven by changing workforce needs tied to AI, the people said.

The latest GM reductions come as the automaker is simultaneously hiring for AI-related roles and pushing existing workers, including those in IT, to adopt its AI platforms. "They're going to push AI for everyday work and everything else," a veteran programmer and data scientist at GM who was laid off this week told CNBC, speaking anonymously. "I've seen it firsthand. It can make you much more productive, as a programmer. It can really help you get more work done, but AI isn't going to do you any good if you don't know the business."

Prior to the latest IT reductions, a significant portion of GM's workforce decline stemmed from the wind-down and eventual discontinuation of its Cruise robotaxi unit, as well as rolling workforce evaluations under CEO Mary Barra. "Sometimes the people who got you to 'point A' aren't necessarily people who are going to get you to 'point B,'" Barra said at an Automotive Press Association meeting in January.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has spoken bluntly about the technology's implications. "Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.," Farley said in July at the Aspen Ideas Festival, adding that "AI will leave a lot of white-collar people behind."

Gad Levanon, chief economist at the labor data nonprofit Burning Glass Institute, said the positions most exposed to AI displacement are clerical roles and repetitive office functions — including finance and IT coding work. "A lot of white collar workers will lose their jobs because AI can automate some of their tasks," Levanon said, though he noted some losses would be offset by hiring in areas such as autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, and software-defined vehicles. "I think it will be a major trend in the next decade or two."

The Detroit Three's declines stand apart from broader industry trends. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows motor vehicle manufacturing employment — including both salaried and hourly workers — fell only 0.2% from 2022 through last year, to 285,800 workers. Toyota Motor, for its part, reported a roughly 31% increase in its American white-collar workforce from 2020 through 2025, reaching approximately 47,500 people.

GM, Ford, and Stellantis declined to comment on their white-collar reductions. All three companies still have open positions — their job sites collectively list more than 2,000 active U.S. roles. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa has said the company plans to add more than 2,000 white-collar jobs in North America as part of a broader turnaround effort.

Whether those hiring plans offset the structural pressure from AI adoption will be a defining question for the sector as automakers lean further into automation tools to compete with newer, software-first rivals.