I have long said that AI is an excuse, but in reality people are not laid off for AI. People are laid off for the economy or "restructuring", and they use the fad of the day - which is AI these days - as a reason.
If it was AI they would take those extra people to get more done. I know of no company that doesn't have more work than they have people. (but they lack the funds/ROI to pay more people)
The way it works in capitalist societies is that their employer fires them when it no longer needs them, and it's up to the individuals to find something else to work on. The doctrine claims that "the market" will find something for them. Which is true in a sense, although the specifics can be extremely dystopian.
If you want to put that responsibility for finding work on someone else, you have quite a lot of political work to do to convince people that it should be the way you propose.
I mean if AI is really powerful the reason is "profitability as our competitor steals our contracts at a fraction of the price". Your competitor just doesn't hire in the first place of course.
If it was AI they would take those extra people to get more done. I know of no company that doesn't have more work than they have people. (but they lack the funds/ROI to pay more people)