AI Boomerang: How Companies Are Reclaiming Employees Replaced by Neural Networks
Automation helped businesses accelerate routine processes but proved less effective in handling complex customer inquiries and tasks requiring experience.
Companies have begun reconsidering which tasks to assign to neural networks, reports Associated Press.
This labor market trend is called the 'AI boomerang.' It occurs when organizations rehire people for positions previously cut in favor of artificial intelligence. The scale of the phenomenon is still unclear, but isolated cases have already been recorded in banking, IT, and customer service.
One example is the Swedish company Klarna. In 2024, the company launched an AI assistant that processed 2.3 million inquiries across 23 markets in its first month. Klarna assessed its workload as equivalent to that of 700 operators and froze hiring for an extended period. However, service quality declined when handling non-standard issues. In 2025, the company resumed hiring specialists, leaving simple queries to bots while assigning complex cases to humans.
In Australia, Commonwealth Bank announced the elimination of 45 call center positions after implementing voice AI. Later, it was found that the number of inquiries did not decrease, and the bank reconsidered its decision, offering employees the option to stay or leave voluntarily.
In September 2026, Amazon Web Services also began inviting former employees back through a simplified interview process. Meanwhile, the company continues to develop AI and seek specialists in cloud technologies.
IBM provides another example: automating HR operations allowed the company to expand hiring in areas where human skills are critical, particularly in programming, sales, and marketing.
Experts emphasize that this is not about a mass abandonment of AI. Companies are seeking a balance between automation and human labor, and the return of employees cannot yet be considered a universal trend.
