Fiverr is shedding 250 workers to grow to be an ‘AI-first firm’

Gig economic system platform Fiverr is shedding 250 workers because it pivots to being an “AI-first firm,” CEO Micha Kaufman shared in an essay on X. The transfer impacts round 30 p.c of the corporate’s employees, The Register writes, and it is not unusual amongst tech firms in 2025. Duolingo introduced related plans to grow to be “AI-first” in April.

Kaufman describes this course of as returning to “startup mode” and writes that his final objective is to show Fiverr into “an AI-first firm that is leaner, sooner, with a contemporary AI-focused tech infrastructure, a smaller group, every with considerably higher productiveness, and much fewer administration layers.” A part of the justification Kaufman gives for why Fiverr does not “want as many individuals to function the present enterprise” is that the corporate has already built-in AI into its buyer help and fraud detection packages.

The primary signal that Fiverr may justify layoffs with AI got here when Kaufman was interviewed by CBS News in Might 2025 in regards to the hazard the expertise posed to workers. Kaufman particularly suggested workers to “automate one hundred pc” of what they do with AI, whereas additionally claiming that would not make them replaceable as a result of they had been nonetheless able to “non-linear pondering” and “judgement calls.” That recommendation does not look like it was in the end useful for Fiverr’s personal workers.

The corporate’s cuts have an effect on fewer folks than a bigger agency like Workday, who introduced plans to eliminate 1,750 roles in February 2025. Whatever the dimension of the corporate or its degree of funding in AI, although, layoffs have the identical impact: Extra work needs to be carried out by fewer folks.