What to consider if a company that made AI-related job cuts wants you back

NEW YORK — Companies around the world are increasingly citing artificial intelligence when slashing jobs, fueling anxiety that a lot more workers may lose their livelihoods to machines. Microsoft, Barclays Bank and supermarket chain Kroger are among the latest entries on a growing list of companies that have announced AI-related workforce reductions this year, including the elimination of jobs deemed redundant or shed to free up money for investing in the technology. But the job cuts of the AI era, which are affecting tens of thousands of people, occasionally have an epilogue. Some companies, after discovering that AI models, applications and agents don't perform as well as expected, end up rehiring laid-off workers to fill eliminated positions. It's unclear how common such reversals are, but they are happening often enough to acquire a nickname: the "AI boomerang." "Two years ago, we said, 'Would this happen?' and now we're saying, 'Yes, it is happening in real time,'" said Lucy Beaumont, a global senior vice president at SHL, a U.K.-based technology company that develops employment-related tests and tools. Hiring managers in fields including finance, marketing, law and health reported earlier this year that their companies had eliminated positions primarily because of AI or automation, only to hire...