OVI is the AI-native ATS where you chat to hire. Two AI agents — Sora for sourcing and Milo for screening — find candidates, score every CV, and run AI interviews, all controlled from a single chat.

What does "chat to hire" mean?

Chat to hire is OVI's AI-native hiring workflow: instead of clicking through a traditional ATS, you describe what you need in chat and OVI's AI agents source candidates, screen applicants, run AI interviews, and send outreach for you.

What is an AI-native ATS?

An AI-native ATS is an applicant tracking system built around AI agents rather than forms and pipelines. OVI's AI chat ATS lets recruiters source, screen, interview, and follow up through conversation — the agents do the work and surface only the candidates worth meeting.

Who are Sora and Milo?

Sora is OVI's AI sourcing agent — she scans LinkedIn, the open web, and your ATS history to find best-fit candidates and reach out in your name. Milo is OVI's AI screening agent — he scores every applicant against your rubric and surfaces a ranked shortlist.

How do OVI's AI interviews work?

OVI runs async AI interviews for every shortlisted candidate and returns scores, transcripts, and recordings — so your team only meets the people worth meeting.

Tech Layoffs Are Hiding the Biggest AI Hiring Surge in Years

2026-06-19

Tech Layoffs Are Hiding the Biggest AI Hiring Surge in Years

The headlines tell one story: tech layoffs are running at 1,115 per day in 2026, with 55% of layoff events explicitly citing AI, automation, or machine learning as the cause. But beneath that narrative, something unexpected is happening — and most talent acquisition leaders are missing it entirely.

New data from ICIMS's June 2026 Workforce Report reveals that U.S. demand for AI-specific roles has surged 15% even as applications for those positions have dropped 10%. Healthcare tech hiring is up 8% since May 2025. Manufacturing tech hiring has climbed 4%. Overall hiring activity sits 9% above baseline.

This isn't a job-destruction story. It's a talent redistribution story — and the window for CHROs to act on it is closing fast.

Is AI Creating or Destroying Jobs in 2026?

The honest answer: both, simultaneously — but the creation side is winning.

According to TechTimes, 152,415 workers across 135 companies have been affected by AI-cited layoffs so far in 2026. These are real disruptions hitting real people, concentrated in legacy tech roles that automation has made redundant.

But ICIMS data paints a more complete picture. While Big Tech sheds roles it no longer needs, demand for AI-adjacent talent is accelerating across sectors that rarely made the tech hiring headlines before. Healthcare organizations are absorbing technical talent at an 8% higher clip than they were in May 2025. Manufacturing is up 4%. The skills aren't disappearing — they're dispersing.

This pattern aligns with broader global trends. According to World Economic Forum research published with LinkedIn data in January 2026, AI has already created 1.3 million net new roles worldwide — positions like AI Engineers, Forward-Deployed Engineers, and Data Annotators that didn't exist at scale five years ago.

The Perception Gap HR Leaders Need to Close

Here's where it gets problematic for talent acquisition teams: 74% of job seekers now believe AI is reducing entry-level opportunities, according to the ICIMS report. That belief is driving candidates away from exactly the roles that are surging in demand.

The result is a widening supply-demand gap. AI role demand is up 15%, but applications are down 10%. That 25-percentage-point spread represents a competitive opportunity for organizations willing to recruit aggressively into it — and a growing talent crisis for those who aren't.

Meanwhile, overall job applications sit just 1% below April 2025 levels. Candidates are still actively looking for work. They're just looking in the wrong places, spooked by layoff headlines into avoiding the very sector where demand is strongest.

Where the Talent Is Actually Going

The ICIMS data reveals a sectoral shift that should reshape how TA leaders build their sourcing strategies:

Healthcare: Tech hiring up 8% since May 2025, driven by AI-powered diagnostics, telehealth platforms, and clinical workflow automation.
Manufacturing: Tech hiring up 4%, fueled by demand for robotics engineers, predictive maintenance specialists, and supply chain AI.
Overall market: Hiring activity 9% above baseline, suggesting broad-based demand that extends well beyond traditional tech employers.

This redistribution means the talent pool CHROs need isn't shrinking — it's moving. The 152,415 workers displaced from Big Tech in 2026 represent one of the most concentrated pools of AI-literate talent the market has ever produced. They have production-grade experience with the exact systems that healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics companies are now scrambling to build.

What CHROs Should Do Right Now

The competitive window is narrow. Here's what the data suggests:

1. Target freshly displaced Big Tech talent immediately. These candidates have production experience with AI/ML systems at scale. They're available now, often in geographic clusters around major tech hubs, and many are open to industry pivots they wouldn't have considered six months ago.

2. Reframe your employer brand around AI opportunity, not AI threat. With 74% of candidates believing AI is shrinking their prospects, organizations that position themselves as places where AI augments rather than replaces human work will attract disproportionate talent. The narrative matters.

3. Rethink entry-level role design. The perception that AI eliminates entry-level jobs is a self-fulfilling prophecy if TA teams let it stand. Redesign junior roles to include AI-augmented workflows and make that visible in job descriptions. The demand exists — candidates just need to see it.

4. Look beyond tech for tech talent. The best AI hires in Q3 2026 may not come from tech companies at all. They'll come from healthcare systems that trained staff on AI-powered tools, from manufacturers who upskilled engineers on predictive analytics, and from logistics companies that deployed machine learning at the edge.

The Bottom Line

The 2026 labor market isn't contracting. It's reorganizing. AI is simultaneously displacing workers from legacy tech roles and creating surging demand for AI-literate talent across healthcare, manufacturing, and beyond. The organizations that recognize this shift — and move on it before the perception gap closes — will lock in a generational talent advantage.

The data is clear: 1,115 layoffs per day makes for alarming headlines, but 15% growth in AI role demand and 1.3 million net new AI jobs globally tell the real story. The question for HR leaders isn't whether AI is destroying jobs. It's whether they're fast enough to capture the talent that AI is redistributing.

Sources

ICIMS June 2026 Workforce Insights (Published 2026-06-11) — https://www.icims.com/company/newsroom/juneinsights2026/
PR Newswire ICIMS release (Published 2026-06-11) — https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tech-layoff-headlines-are-masking-a-surge-in-ai-driven-hiring-demand-new-icims-data-reveals-302797655.html
TechTimes "Tech Layoffs Hit 1,115 a Day in 2026" (Published 2026-06-16) — https://www.techtimes.com/articles/318466/20260616/tech-layoffs-hit-1115-day-2026-companies-cite-ai-cuts-fail-boost-returns.htm
WEF/LinkedIn "AI has already added 1.3 million jobs" (Published 2026-01) — https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/ai-has-already-added-1-3-million-new-jobs-according-to-linkedin-data/