Guernsey family considers leaving after claiming AI cost jobs

Two workers at a Guernsey tech company lost their jobs in early 2026. Ania and Patryk Pawleta had joined the same firm in 2018.

The Polish nationals have two children. They may leave the island if they cannot find work. Ania says AI contributed to her redundancy. Patryk says the technology has made his job search harder. The report contains no island-wide hiring total or unemployment rate. It provides no redundancy series or survey sample to establish a broader trend.

What happened at the tech company?

Their positions and accounts of the cuts were:

• Ania handled product and image administration.
• Patryk worked as a software developer.
• Ania said her job was one of wider redundancies.
• Her manager told her AI would do her work.
• Patryk said his employer blamed market changes for his redundancy.
• He had used AI extensively toward the end of his employment.

Patryk said: “AI is a reason why I am struggling to find another job.”

He said employers were not hiring because they only wanted AI to do the work. That was why the family was looking for work outside the island. Their former employer did not respond to a request for comment.

For now, this documents one family’s experience, not a measured island-wide employment shift.

How is the family managing without work?

Since the start of 2026, the couple have relied on savings. Patryk’s tech repair workshop provides only sporadic income. He described the venture as 80% charity and 20% income. After subtracting its costs, he said, he was making nothing.

Unemployment benefit (financial support for people out of work) has been withheld. Social security took account of the workshop earnings. A case review is still ongoing.

Ed Ashton, director of operations for social security, States housing and inclusion, said: “To be eligible to receive unemployment benefit, a person must be available for work and actively seeking work.”

He said any issue affecting those requirements must be investigated before a claim can be accepted. For the family, finding paid work is now urgent because savings are already being used and the benefit decision remains unresolved.

The workshop provides some income, but none after costs, and their support case has not yet been settled.

What are Guernsey’s policy priorities?

Deputy Tom Rylatt, digital steering group representative for the Committee for Employment & Social Security, said AI and other emerging technologies are already beginning to reshape the labour market. He said the first task was to understand those changes. Support services, retraining and skills interventions (targeted programmes that update workers’ skills) then had to stay responsive.

Emily Gill is a TEDx speaker and co-founder of skills company LEVRA. She has led talks in Guernsey on embracing AI. She said widespread fear that AI could wipe out large parts of employment was easing. She argued that AI can create value, new types of jobs and new tasks.

Neither account provides a hiring forecast, training enrolment total or cost estimate. The contrast therefore remains qualitative, rather than a measured forecast of how many jobs AI will change.

Guernsey has identified support and retraining priorities, but has not attached them to a measured AI job-loss total.

For the Pawleta family, the next milestones are a decision in the social security review and paid work that replaces lost earnings. Any wider assessment of AI’s employment effects in Guernsey still needs published hiring and unemployment data.