“Lower-value human capital” — why empathy is the key ingredient when communicating about AI

Being made redundant is a horrible experience. The financial stress, the uncertainty about finding a new job, the blow to the self-esteem – perhaps the only thing that could make it worse is your former boss calling you “lower-value human capital”. But those were the somewhat dystopian words used by Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters to refer to 8,000 of his employees that he’s replacing with AI.

That turn of phrase led media reporting on the layoffs, and the discussion continued to rumble on through the week. As any corporate comms pro will know, there is no way of making an announcement of layoffs on this scale a good news story. But there is a way of doing it where the description of the people involved doesn’t become a point of discussion in the national media for the following week.

Standard Chartered argued that his words were taken out of context, and Winters posted on LinkedIn  to try and explain his choice of words. And then he posted again to apologise. This is the classic template of corporate comms gone awry, but it could all have been avoided with a bit more empathy. The people being laid off are unlikely to thank you for it, but communicating this kind of news, particularly when AI is involved, empathetically and with a sense of understanding of the awful position your colleagues find themselves in, through no fault of their own, may mitigate some of the criticism.

Growing disconnect

However, comments like those from Winters are the latest example of a growing disconnect between executives, who see replacing staff with AI as an easy pathway to reducing costs and boosting profits, and the graduates and white collar workers of corporate middle management who are intensely anxious about the impact of AI on their careers.

This brings us to the real reputational issue of AI. Standard Chartered’s Q1 2026 results showed income is up 9% and its share price is up around 60% over the past 12 months. It’s not struggling. Yet, it has still decided to replace almost 10% of its workforce with AI, to further cut costs, following in the footsteps of Meta, Amazon and Oracle, which have all announced that AI will replace tens of thousands of their staff. This is just the beginning. Morgan Stanley forecasts 200,000 job losses in the European banking sector alone over the next five years.

Corporate communications leaders are unlikely to be able to influence the scale of layoffs or decisions to invest in AI, but they are on the frontline of an increasingly challenging balancing act. The reality is that many companies now need to demonstrate to investors and markets that they’re not being left behind in the AI arms race, and are using it to make efficiencies and boost profits – and it is up to comms teams to tell that story. At the same time, they need to navigate a growing backlash against AI from those most likely to be affected by its impact on the workforce. 

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, was booed when he mentioned AI in his speech at a university graduation ceremony. The way that executives talk about AI and how they’re deploying it is becoming highly sensitive and is subject to intense scrutiny. Striking that balance is incredibly important. It's the role of corporate comms teams to make sure that leaders are mindful of what’s going on in the outside world, and are aware of how their words might be interpreted.

AI is becoming the defining issue of our era, and it’s a huge challenge for comms teams to grapple with it. How do we tell a positive story about how businesses are embracing this revolutionary technology, without incurring the wrath of the huge numbers of people who are deeply concerned about its impact on the workforce and society? I think it comes back to being empathetic, and balancing a sense of optimism with understanding the anxieties around AI. 

For what it’s worth, when I asked for its opinion on this issue, ChatGPT agreed with me…