ai-pocalypse The jury is still out when it comes to determining how much job loss AI is causing. However, we now have another case study. Dow Chemical blames AI automation for its plans to cut 4,500 jobs, about 12.5 percent of its work force.<\/p>\n
The thousands of employees losing their jobs are being cut as part of a rhyming companywide initiative called \u201cTransform to Outperform\u201d that aims to radically simplify operations, and modernize its go-to-market playbook in the hopes of achieving $2 billion in EBITDA improvement by 2028.<\/p>\n
“The goal of Transform to Outperform is to achieve significant growth and productivity gains that elevate Dow’s competitive position,” said Karen S. Carter<\/a> , Dow’s chief operating officer, in the press release announcing the initiative. “We are building on the momentum of our current self-help measures \u2013 transforming Dow into a company that is more resilient, consistently delivers growth, enables customer success, and delivers greater shareholder value across the cycle.”<\/p>\n Dow is one of the biggest enterprises working with Palantir rival C3 AI, which uses a digital twin to map a company, its employees, products, and its processes in a hunt to find efficiencies.<\/p>\n \u201cC3 AI has been pivotal in transforming Dow\u2019s operations from reactive to predictive, optimizing asset performance to drive value. As we scale these solutions across Dow\u2019s portfolio, we anticipate significant benefits,\u201d said Debra Bauler, chief information and digital officer at Dow in a June 2025 press release<\/a>. \u201cWe look forward to continuing our partnership with C3 AI as we advance a world-class predictive maintenance program and uncover further opportunities to enhance efficiency, reliability, and productivity throughout our operations.\u201d<\/p>\n The two companies partnered last year on a predictive maintenance solution for the petrochemical industry through Dow\u2019s subsidiary Univation Technologies, which was allowed to license and install C3 AI products.<\/p>\n \u201cOur work with Dow sets the standard for how industrial companies can use AI to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and optimize performance,\u201d said Ed Abbo, Chief Technology Officer, C3 AI in the same June press release. \u201cAnd this collaboration with Univation will accelerate adoption of this proven, domain-specific AI application across the broader petrochemical industry and support modernization across the market by delivering real, measurable benefits of AI at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n El Reg asked Dow spokesperson to name the processes, software, and technologies that Dow plans to use to replace its employees, but the chemical giant didn’t address the question.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough this work, we are leveraging best\u2011in\u2011class practices from across industries and high\u2011impact technologies, such as automation and AI, as we radically simplify our operating model and modernize how we serve our customers,\u201d the spokesperson told The Register.<\/p>\n