Centrica is cutting 1,300 jobs across the business as it expands its digital transformation and AI tools, reigniting fresh concerns over the automation's impact on jobs. The company said the reductions form part of a broader technology-led transformation supported by the targeted deployment of AI tools.
The reductions will take place over two years and affect around 14% of the impacted workforce, through both staff departures and redundancies. Unions have criticised the move, warning AI could replace 'hundreds of human jobs' with chatbots. However, Centrica chief executive Chris O'Shea said that AI wasn't the main cause of the cuts. Instead, he said that changing customer behaviour was the bigger factor behind the restructuring.
