AI To Replace 4,000 DBS Workers As Apple & Alibaba Invest $500B & $50B Amid Rising Usage Costs

Since its introduction in November 2022, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology has been altering how businesses go about their business.

This has also resulted in a higher interest level in artificial intelligence (AI) technology that isn’t strictly generative but can help a wide range of organizations—including government agencies—streamline operations, optimize processes, and boost productivity, by reducing costs, efforts, resources, and turnaround time.

As a result, businesses around the globe are exploring every nook and cranny where AI and GenAI can be integrated to improve operational efficiency. Unfortunately, these enhancements also come in the form of mass layoffs or “restructuring”—something that’s been rampant over the past couple of years.

This is also what Singapore’s biggest bank—DBS Bank—said it would observe over the next three years.

Speaking at the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Summit 2025, Piyush Gupta, the outgoing CEO of DBS Bank, said, “The bank said it expects to cut around 4,000 jobs as AI technology takes on more work currently executed by humans.”

While DBS didn’t say how many jobs would be cut in Singapore or which ones would be affected, the move is not expected to impact permanent staff members and will be restricted to temporary and contract workers.

“The reduction in workforce will come from natural attrition as temporary and contract roles roll off over the next few years,” a DBS spokesperson clarified.

Currently, the bank employs a total of around 41,000 people, out of which 8,000 to 9,000 account for temporary and contract workers. Meaning that around 10% of its workforce is set to be affected.

On the other hand, the bank also said it expects to create over 1,000 new AI-related jobs.


The AI race has got almost every business firing on all cylinders to be the first to adopt and implement the technology into their product.

This hasn’t been the case for the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization—Apple—which took a while to get its AI ambitions on the road.

Now, the company seems to be making up for lost time with its latest announcement.

Apple is planning to spend $500 billion in the United States over the next four years to help it realize its AI dream. The investment will include building a giant factory in Texas for AI servers, as well as around 20,000 research and development jobs across the U.S.

However, this mega-budget also spans enabling purchases from U.S. suppliers to U.S. filming of television shows and movies for its Apple TV+ service. 

The announcement follows a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook last week. According to Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, “This pledge represents a political gesture towards the Trump administration.”

Luria estimates that Apple already invests around $150 billion annually, meaning that “Even without growing that spend very much, they would only need 3 to 4 years to meet their obligation."

Ahead of this, China’s Alibaba also said it was ramping up its AI investment to at least 380 billion yuan—or $52.44 billion—in its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure over the next three years.

Interestingly, both these announcements follow a partnership struck between the two companies to support iPhones' AI services offering in China, a move that would help Apple improve its falling smartphone sales in the world’s largest smartphone market.


Businesses spending on AI is no longer a surprise. However, the technology is also costing employees dearly—that too without being used in their jobs!

As per a report, an increasing number of disgruntled employees are using AI technology to generate and file lawsuits against their employers.

While this may be helpful in its own way, it’s also leading to an increase in inconsistent and erroneous arguments, which in turn is leading to higher legal costs.

As per Travers Smith partner Ailie Murray, AI submissions are excessively long and inconsistent, resulting in businesses having to shell out more money and time to respond. Murray said, “In many cases, the AI-generated output is inaccurate, leading to claimants pleading invalid claims or arguments.”

This sentiment was shared by Robert Walters’ CEO Toby Fowlston and James Hockin, an employment partner at Withers.

Either way, AI companies continue to push forward with updates to their AI models.

Do you think AI technology will bring about even more layoffs? Do you think this will result in an equal increase in AI-related jobs?

Let us know in the comments below!