More than half of artificial intelligence and machine learning professionals in India expect their teams to face layoffs or significant headcount cuts over the next three to six months, according to a survey released by the workplace community platform Blind. The findings challenge the assumption that AI roles are among the safest as companies expand their use of the technology.
The survey covered 1,552 India-based professionals in July 2026. It found that 66% of AI and ML workers expect a layoff or a significant reduction in their team’s headcount within three to six months. That figure sat close to sales and marketing at 68%, the function reporting the highest layoff expectations, and product and design at 65%.
Engineers reported markedly lower concern. Only 24% of engineers said a job cut was “very likely,” making engineering the least worried function in the survey, though 58% still showed some level of at-risk sentiment. Data and analytics professionals were also relatively confident, with an at-risk reading of 51%.
Perceived risk varied sharply by employer. Workers at Salesforce reported the highest perceived risk at 81%, followed by Oracle at 80%, Uber at 77% and PayPal at 75%. Indian SaaS firms sat at the other end, with perceived risk of 9% at Zoho and 44% at Freshworks.
Employees expecting cuts were not waiting for formal announcements to read the signals. In the survey, 27% identified hiring freezes as the strongest warning sign, while 24% pointed to budget or headcount-target reductions. Only 9% cited formal layoff announcements as the indicator they were watching.
The results land against continued demand for AI talent in India. A separate Randstad Digital analysis of more than 35 million job postings found India accounted for 20.5% of global AI technology job postings, second only to the United States at 29%, even as workforce anxiety climbs across technology functions.
