AI was supposed to kill tech jobs. The data on job openings says otherwise.

AI was supposed to kill tech jobs. The data on job openings says otherwise. Mechanical systems expert Chris David leads a tour of Meta's data center in Temple, Texas. Mikala Compton/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images Fears that AI will wipe out tech jobs aren't showing up in the data.Job openings at tech companies are climbing, while layoffs continue to ease after a brutal industry reset following the pandemic, according to new data from TrueUp, a hiring platform that tracks more than 9,000 technology companies.TrueUp is currently tracking more than 280,000 open tech jobs across startups and big tech firms, up strongly from the start of 2026.Layoffs haven't disappeared, but they're no longer happening at anything like the pace of the post-pandemic downturn.About 190,000 tech workers have been laid off so far this year, putting 2026 on track to finish well below the roughly 430,000 job cuts recorded during the industry's layoff peak in 2023.The recovery isn't happening evenly across the sector. Demand for hardware engineers has surged this year, fueled by massive spending on AI infrastructure."It's not surprising given the interest in GPU innovation, AI robotics, US manufacturing startups, and SpaceX," Amit Taylor, TrueUp's founder, told Business Insider.Software engineering job listings, meanwhile, have held up surprisingly well despite predictions that AI coding tools would sharply reduce demand for programmers.The numbers suggest AI is changing what tech companies hire for, not eliminating the need to hire. Demand is shifting toward engineers building the physical foundations of AI — chips, servers, robotics, manufacturing, and data centers — while software hiring remains resilient. Taken together, the data points to a tech job market that is finding its footing. Companies are still cutting jobs in some areas, but they're also hiring aggressively where AI investment is booming.Sign up for the AI Insider newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com Read next Alistair Barr is the driving force behind Business Insider's AI Insider franchise, including the AI Insider newsletter. Sign up here. Before that, he was Business Insider's Global Tech Editor and the Big Tech team leader at Bloomberg, following a reporting career at The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Reuters, and MarketWatch. Alistair covers all things Big Tech, along with startups and venture capital. He writes analysis and columns about topics including AI, cloud computing, data centers, semiconductors, online search, e-commerce, EVs, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. Job Market Employment Economy More AI AI Insider