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Medium reported severity

UK software firm CEO says he made nine staff redundant from 2023, replacing them with AI because it could do a better job

The news agency SWNS reported on 29 October 2026 that Rob Illidge, chief executive of Vulse, a LinkedIn employee-advocacy software company he founded in 2019, says he made more than 64% of his staff redundant over three years starting in 2023, nine employees in total, and replaced their work with AI. By his account the company had grown to 14 employees after venture funding; the marketing, sales and development teams went, and graduate roles were more at risk. He says 'AI could do a better job', that the company's AI tools cost 140 pounds a month and that it saves about 100,000 pounds a year in employment costs. The account is the employer's own; no former employee is quoted and no challenge to the redundancies is reported.

AI system
Unidentified AI tools
Occurred
2023
Reported
29 October 2026
Event location
United Kingdom
What the AI did
Relation unknown
Reported harm
Professional Harm
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Work
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
9 people

AI system as recorded: Unnamed AI tools that the company's chief executive says took over the work of redundant marketing, sales and development staff, at a cost of about 140 pounds a month; no product is named

What Happened

The company. According to SWNS, the chief executive founded the company in 2019 as a side project selling employee-advocacy software for LinkedIn. After raising funding it hired quickly, from five to 14 employees, some of them graduates in their first job.

The redundancies. SWNS reports that in 2023 he decided to run the business with a skeleton crew relying heavily on AI, which over the next three years meant making over 64% of staff redundant, nine employees in total, including the marketing, sales and development teams. He told SWNS: 'We were looking at repetitive tasks, so graduate jobs were more likely to go. AI could do a better job.'

His reasons. He cites pressure on staff costs, says the company's AI tools cost 140 pounds a month against about 250,000 pounds a year to staff the replaced roles, and says revenue per employee has risen sharply. He also says that as a founder he is 'responsible for livelihoods' but has a business to develop, and that the employees let go 'will go on to find a better job for them'.

What is not reported. SWNS quotes no former employee and gives no dates or terms for the individual redundancies.

Reported harm

The company's CEO says he made nine employees redundant between 2023 and 2026 and replaced their work with AI because it could do a better job (the employer's account to SWNS).

Outcome

Unknown

The CEO says the company now runs with five people and that the redundant employees 'will go on to find a better job'. No severance terms, employee challenge, tribunal claim or regulatory action is reported.

What remains unknown

  • The dates, terms and severance of the individual redundancies.
  • The former employees' own accounts, and whether any challenged the redundancies.
  • Which AI tools the company uses and which tasks they took over.
  • Where the redundant employees worked.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Consequential response: the company's CEO told SWNS that from 2023 he made nine employees redundant because AI could do a better job, and that AI tools costing about 140 pounds a month now do work the replaced roles did. The harm is the employer's decision to replace staff with AI; no AI output toward the employees is described, so the person relation is unknown.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported SWNS reports that the CEO founded the company in 2019 to sell employee-advocacy software for LinkedIn and that, after raising funding, it grew from five to 14 employees, some of them graduates in their first job.

Causal attribution. Background facts from the CEO's interview; not independently confirmed.

  • discover.swns.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    founded Vulse – an employee advocacy software for LinkedIn – in 2019, before the boom in artificial intelligence. | “We started at five but grew quickly. After a couple of years, we had 14 employees.
Reported The CEO says that from 2023, over three years, he made more than 64% of the staff redundant, nine employees in total including the marketing, sales and development teams, and replaced their work with AI.

Causal attribution. The employer's own attribution of the redundancies to AI replacement; no former employee is quoted.

  • discover.swns.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    In 2023, he decided to operate his business with a skeleton crew, relying heavily on AI, which meant over the next three years making over 64% of his staff redundant. | In total, Rob replaced nine employees with artificial intelligence, and graduates were more at risk. | Over three years, starting in 2023, he more than halved his staff by making the marketing, sales and development teams redundant.
Reported The CEO gives as his reasons that AI could do a better job and that staff costs were a pressure, and says the company's AI tools cost 140 pounds a month and save about 100,000 pounds a year in employment costs.

Causal attribution. The CEO's stated reasons; the cost figures are his and are not verified.

  • discover.swns.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    “We were looking at repetitive tasks, so graduate jobs were more likely to go. AI could do a better job. | “Our AI tools cost £140 a month. | In total, Rob says he saves around £100,000 a year in employment costs, now.
Reported The CEO says that as a founder he is responsible for livelihoods but has a business to develop, and that the employees let go will go on to find better jobs.

Causal attribution. The CEO's own assessment of the consequences for the employees; no employee's account is reported.

  • discover.swns.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    “As a founder, you’re responsible for livelihoods, but there’s a conflict of interest – you have a business to develop at the same time. | “It’s a blessing in disguise for everyone. Those employees we let go will go on to find a better job for them.”

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

English article of 29 October 2026 read in full on 2026-10-31 by the research agent (an AI); no translation required. It rests on the agency's interview with the CEO; the Mirror's same-day version is a relay of this interview and was not readable. Applies to s1.

Event countries: United Kingdom. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The CEO describes the company as a UK business ('it's helping UK business like mine'), which places the employer's decision in the UK. The article does not say where the redundant employees worked, so their country is left unknown; the CEO's home city is residence and is not used.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-31: Published as a consequential response to a decision to replace workers with AI: the company's CEO told SWNS on the record that he made nine employees redundant from 2023 because AI could do a better job. The account is the employer's; no employee is quoted.

People described

Nine employees of the company, from its marketing, sales and development teams and including graduates in their first jobs, made redundant between 2023 and 2026 (the CEO's account)

People reported harmed in this case

9 people

0 AI participants · 9 other people harmed

The CEO's own figure as reported by SWNS: 'In total, Rob replaced nine employees with artificial intelligence', out of a peak of 14 staff. No other count is reported.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#workplace-ai#employment#redundancy#consequential-response

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). UK software firm CEO says he made nine staff redundant from 2023, replacing them with AI because it could do a better job. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-uk-linkedin-software-firm-ceo-says-he-made-nine-staff-redundant-replacing-them-with-ai

BibTeX

@misc{2023_uk_linkedin_software_firm_ceo_says_he_made_nine_staff_redundant_replacing_them_with_ai,
  title = {UK software firm CEO says he made nine staff redundant from 2023, replacing them with AI because it could do a better job},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-uk-linkedin-software-firm-ceo-says-he-made-nine-staff-redundant-replacing-them-with-ai}
}

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