Snap Is Cutting 1,000 Jobs. AI Now Writes 65% of Its Code.

Snap announced April 15 that it is cutting roughly 1,000 employees, about 16% of its full-time workforce, along with closing more than 300 open positions. CEO Evan Spiegel attributed the decision directly to what AI is now capable of doing inside the company. The stock rose 7% on the news.

The figure Spiegel released is what makes this announcement distinct: AI now writes more than 65% of Snap's new code. That is not a forecast about where the company is headed. It is a description of what is happening in production today, and it is apparently enough to conclude that smaller engineering teams can deliver the same output as larger ones.

The restructuring is expected to reduce Snap's annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026. Affected US employees receive four months of severance, healthcare coverage, equity vesting acceleration, and career transition support. Spiegel framed the changes as enabling "small squads" to drive progress across Snapchat's subscription tier, ad platform, and infrastructure work.

Most companies have been reluctant to say plainly that AI drove their workforce reductions. Economic conditions, strategic realignment, efficiency initiatives: these are the usual framings. Spiegel said it plainly. That directness, combined with the specificity of the 65% figure, makes this announcement harder to write off as routine restructuring.

It is also part of a pattern that was already well established before this week. Research published earlier this year estimated AI is eliminating roughly 16,000 net US jobs per month, with entry-level workers bearing the brunt. Snap's announcement puts a face on what those aggregate numbers look like inside a single company: 1,000 people, 16% of the workforce, $500 million in costs, and a CEO who credits the efficiency gains to AI without apparent hesitation.

The market's reaction tells you something about investor priorities. A 7% stock bump on the announcement of 1,000 layoffs is a bet that leaner, AI-augmented teams will produce better margins. Whether the employees who wrote the other 35% of Snap's code see that as a fair exchange is a different question entirely.