Apple reportedly considered cutting around 5,000 AppleCare support jobs and using artificial intelligence to take over some of the work currently handled by human advisors.
The company ultimately put the plan on hold, meaning the large-scale layoffs aren’t currently moving forward.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the proposal formed part of Apple’s wider efforts to reduce costs and become more efficient under new CEO John Ternus.
Apple believed AI-powered phone and web support agents could handle some of the responsibilities currently performed by thousands of AppleCare employees.
The proposal would have affected approximately 5,000 customer support workers, but Apple is no longer currently planning to proceed with the cuts.
The idea gives an indication of how significantly Apple is considering using artificial intelligence internally, beyond the consumer-facing Apple Intelligence and Siri features available across its products.
Apple has already begun introducing generative AI into its customer support systems.
Customers calling Apple’s support line in the United States and Canada can now encounter a generative AI-powered voice assistant capable of answering questions and providing step-by-step troubleshooting guidance.
The system can still transfer customers to a human AppleCare advisor when it can’t resolve an issue or when a customer asks to speak to a person.
The reported 5,000-job proposal suggests Apple considered expanding that approach significantly enough for AI to absorb some of the work performed by its customer support workforce.
There is currently no indication that Apple plans to remove access to human AppleCare advisors, and the company has put the proposed large-scale layoffs on hold indefinitely.
It remains possible that Apple could revisit the idea as its AI support technology improves, or reduce the size of AppleCare through slower hiring rather than large-scale job cuts.
The proposal emerged as part of a much broader review of Apple’s operations following Ternus becoming CEO on September 1.
As The Apple Post reported earlier today, Ternus is reportedly looking to make Apple faster and leaner, with fewer layers of management and a greater emphasis on engineering.
Apple’s hardware engineering organization has already begun reducing engineering program management positions, according to Bloomberg, with several managers, including roughly half a dozen directors, affected.
Other smaller cuts have recently affected teams working on Siri, Vision Pro and AI-related software engineering, although some of those departures were reportedly connected to employee performance.
Ternus is also said to be exploring ways AI could accelerate product development and automate work currently carried out by employees.
The new CEO is simultaneously considering changes to Apple’s product release calendar, including launching more products throughout the year rather than concentrating announcements around the company’s traditional spring and fall periods.
Apple hasn’t publicly commented on the reported AppleCare proposal.
For now, the most significant point for AppleCare employees and customers is that the plan didn’t go ahead. But the fact Apple considered replacing work performed by around 5,000 support employees shows how extensively the company is evaluating the role AI could play behind the scenes.