General Motors has cut more than 10% of its information technology workforce — roughly 600 salaried employees — in a deliberate talent exchange. The company is clearing out workers whose skills no longer align with its direction while making room for hires with expertise in artificial intelligence. In an emailed statement, the automaker described the layoffs as part of preparing for what lies ahead, though it offered few specifics. “GM is transforming its Information Technology organization to better position the company for the future,” the company said.

These job cuts are not all permanent reductions in headcount. The most in-demand capabilities now include AI-native development, data engineering and analytics, cloud-based engineering, and work involving agent and model development, prompt engineering, and new AI workflows. In practical terms, GM is seeking people who can build with AI from the ground up — designing systems, training models, and engineering pipelines — rather than simply using AI as a productivity tool.

Over the past 18 months, GM has laid off white-collar employees across several departments as it channels resources into high-priority initiatives, including artificial intelligence. In August 2024, for instance, the company cut roughly 1,000 software workers. The software team has undergone significant change since Sterling Anderson — co-founder of autonomous trucking startup Aurora and a veteran of the self-driving vehicle industry — joined as chief product officer in May 2025. Last November, three top executives left the software division as Anderson pushed to consolidate GM’s various technology businesses into a single organization: Baris Cetinok, senior vice president of software and services product management; Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering; and Barak Turovsky, a former Cisco VP who spent just nine months as GM’s chief AI officer.

GM has since moved to fill those gaps with new AI-focused talent. In October, the company hired Behrad Toghi, who previously worked at Apple, as AI lead. It also brought on Rashed Haq as vice president of autonomous vehicles. Haq spent five years at Cruise — the self-driving vehicle company GM acquired and later shut down — serving as its head of AI and robotics.

For the broader industry, GM’s restructuring signals what enterprise AI adoption actually looks like in practice: not just layering AI tools on top of existing teams, but deliberately rebuilding the workforce from the ground up. The specific skills GM is hiring for — agent development, model engineering, AI-native workflows — point directly to where large-enterprise demand is heading.