Elementor cuts 100 jobs, 30% of workforce, as AI reshapes website building - CTech

Ah, the AI era has arrived, and it's brought its calling card: a pink slip. Elementor, the website-building platform that once promised to democratise web design, has announced it will lay off 100 employees — roughly 30% of its workforce — in order to 'prepare for the AI era.' Nothing says 'we're ready for the future' quite like showing 30% of your staff the door.

But let's savour the phrasing: 'preparing for the AI era.' As if the AI era were a guest arriving for dinner and Elementor needed to clear the table of pesky humans so the robot can sit down. The company joins a proud tradition of tech firms that use 'AI transformation' as a euphemism for 'we can now replace you with a cheaper subscription model.' Perhaps the 100 departing employees can take comfort in knowing they were replaced not by a superior algorithm, but by the same cost-cutting calculus that has defined every technological shift since the Luddites.

Elementor's move is a microcosm of the wider industry playbook: cut headcount now, promise to hire for 'AI roles' later — roles that, coincidentally, require far fewer people. The website building sector, once a bastion of creative human labour, is now being streamlined by companies that mistake headcount reduction for innovation. So raise a glass to the 100: you're not laid off, you're 'strategically repositioned for the AI era.' The pink slip is just the first page of your new, algorithmically optimised life.