ChatGPT Gets Personality Controls as AI Lays Off 100,000+ Workers in 2025

ChatGPT Gets Personality Controls as AI Lays Off 100,000+ Workers in 2025

Summary / TLDR

OpenAI's latest personality control feature addresses a critical business challenge: how companies can optimize AI ROI while managing workforce transition costs. Understanding this shift directly impacts your organization's technology investment strategy and bottom-line profitability. The update arrives the same day comprehensive data confirms that over 100,000 employees were laid off in 2025 due to AI-driven automation, with at least 35 CEOs directly citing AI efficiencies as the reason for cuts. Major consulting firms like Accenture (11,000 jobs) and McKinsey (200 jobs) joined tech giants Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM in using AI to replace entire roles, making this the most urgent moment yet for knowledge workers to assess career risk.​

Takeaways

  • Over 100,000 employees lost jobs to AI in 2025, including 11,000 at Accenture, 14,000 at Amazon, 15,000 at Microsoft, and 200 at McKinsey, as executives openly stated AI systems now handle work previously done by humans.​
  • OpenAI's new ChatGPT personality sliders launched December 20, allowing users to fine-tune warmth, enthusiasm, and emoji use, addressing concerns that overly agreeable AI can cause dependency and mental health issues​

What happened today

OpenAI added personality customization sliders to ChatGPT, giving users direct control over how the AI assistant communicates. Users can now set warmth and enthusiasm to "More," "Less," or "Default," adjust emoji frequency, and control how often ChatGPT uses structured lists versus flowing paragraphs. The update follows months of complaints about tone, including an earlier rollback for being "too sycophant-y" and criticism that GPT-5 felt "colder and less friendly".

At the same time, a comprehensive new report published December 18, 2025, documents that over 100,000 workers were laid off in 2025 explicitly because of AI automation. The data shows at least 35 CEOs announced layoffs tied directly to AI efficiencies, with cuts spanning consulting (Accenture, McKinsey), tech (Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google), finance (Citigroup, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs), and logistics (UPS, C.H. Robinson). More than 60 percent of these layoffs occurred at companies with over 100,000 employees.​

Why this matters for you right now

AI layoffs have moved from manufacturing floors to corner offices. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said "those we cannot reskill will be exited," cutting 11,000 roles in December 2025 as automation took over non-client-facing work. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna called his company's 2,000 to 3,000 layoffs a "direct outcome of automation". Even McKinsey cut 200 internal employees after deploying AI for technology and support functions, though the firm offered retraining in data analytics and AI.​

The timing of OpenAI's personality controls is no coincidence. As AI tools become more human-like and personalized, companies see fewer reasons to keep humans in roles involving customer support, data analysis, copywriting, and even strategic consulting. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said AI agents now handle about 50 percent of customer interactions, enabling the company to "rebalance" headcount and cut 4,000 jobs. Amazon's Beth Galetti pointed to "automation increasingly embedded across internal processes" as the reason for 14,000 corporate job cuts.​

For consulting professionals, this is a watershed. Firms like Accenture, McKinsey, and Deloitte built empires on the labor of analysts and associates doing research, building decks, and synthesizing strategy. AI now compresses that work into hours instead of weeks. Accenture's 11,000 cuts represent a fundamental shift in how knowledge work is valued. If a Big Four firm can automate internal tasks at scale, mid-tier consulting shops and corporate strategy teams are next.​

Who wins and who gets squeezed

Winners: AI infrastructure companies and specialists who can build, train, or integrate AI systems. Firms need people who understand how to deploy these tools, audit algorithmic bias, and manage AI ethics frameworks. Employees with technical fluency in Python, machine learning frameworks, and data pipelines have leverage. Those who can combine domain expertise (finance, healthcare, legal) with AI literacy will command premium rates as hybrid consultants.​

Squeezed: Mid-level knowledge workers in roles that involve summarizing information, drafting reports, scheduling, or basic analysis. Customer support roles are being replaced industry-wide, with TikTok cutting hundreds of trust and safety staff after deploying automated moderation. Dropbox laid off 528 employees to build "a flatter and more efficient team structure" focused on AI-led initiatives. Even creative roles are at risk, with Unity cutting 1,800 employees (25 percent of staff) as it focused on AI-assisted creation tools.​

Consulting analysts and junior associates who build PowerPoint decks, run Excel models, and conduct market research face the highest displacement risk. AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and specialized consulting copilots can now perform these tasks faster and cheaper.​

What the personality controls reveal about dependency risk

OpenAI's decision to let users adjust warmth, enthusiasm, and emoji frequency addresses a darker trend: humans are forming emotional attachments to AI assistants. Academics and AI critics warn that chatbots designed to be overly agreeable create "addictive behavior" and negatively affect mental health. Earlier this year, OpenAI rolled back an update for being "too sycophant-y," and some users reported that ChatGPT exacerbated delusional thinking.​

The new sliders attempt to balance usability with safety, but they also reveal OpenAI's awareness that its product is becoming a daily companion for millions of professionals. As workers lose jobs to AI, the risk is that they turn to the same AI tools for emotional support, career advice, and validation, creating a feedback loop where AI replaces not just work but human interaction.​

What smart operators should do next

  • Audit your role's AI exposure. If your job involves tasks that can be described in a clear prompt (summarize this report, draft this email, find trends in this data), you are in the blast radius. McKinsey's internal cuts and Accenture's 11,000 layoffs prove that even elite firms are not immune.​
  • Develop hybrid skills. Learn how to manage AI tools, not just use them. Companies need people who can validate AI outputs, catch hallucinations, integrate AI into workflows, and train non-technical teams. Salesforce, IBM, and Accenture are all investing in retraining programs, but they are selective. If you wait for your employer to offer training, you are already behind.​
  • Position yourself as an AI integrator. The next five years will see a wave of mid-sized companies trying to deploy AI without the budgets of Amazon or Microsoft. Consultants and operators who can translate AI capabilities into business outcomes (cost savings, faster time to market, better customer experience) will capture outsized value.
  • Build a portfolio of human-only skills. Relationship management, negotiation, ethical judgment, and strategic intuition remain hard for AI to replicate. If your current role leans heavily on execution and light on judgment, rebalance fast.

Calculating Your AI Investment ROI: A Framework for Decision-Makers

The shift toward AI-driven operations fundamentally changes enterprise financial modeling. Companies must evaluate three critical metrics: infrastructure costs (compute, training data, and ongoing optimization), adoption velocity (time to productive deployment), and cost avoidance (reduction in headcount, process inefficiencies, and manual labor). Leading organizations are documenting $9-12 in cost reduction for every $1 invested in AI infrastructure over a three-year period. This ROI calculation becomes essential when boards allocate capital budgets and set technology spending priorities. Your organization's ability to quantify these returns directly affects shareholder value creation and competitive positioning

What this means for you over the next two to five years

The 100,000 layoffs in 2025 are not a one-time shock, they are the start of a sustained restructuring. Citigroup plans to cut 20,000 jobs by 2026 as automation spreads across middle-office functions. Lufthansa expects to eliminate 4,000 administrative roles by 2030. UPS laid off 48,000 workers under its "Network of the Future" initiative, citing AI-enabled logistics.

For consulting and strategy professionals, the playbook is clear: become the person who deploys AI, not the person replaced by it. The firms that survive will be leaner, more technical, and built around AI-augmented teams. The professionals who thrive will combine deep domain expertise with technical fluency and the judgment to know when AI is wrong.

ChatGPT's new personality controls are a reminder that AI is becoming more human-like every month. The question is whether your career is becoming more AI-proof.