U.S. companies have named artificial intelligence as the leading driver of job cuts for the second consecutive month, a new analysis has found. In April, employers announced 83,387 layoffs — a 38 percent increase from March — according to a report released Thursday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement firm. AI accounted for 26 percent of those cuts, making it the most frequently cited reason for workforce reductions for a second month. So far this year, 49,135 layoffs have been attributed to AI, ranking it as the third-largest cause of planned job losses overall . Companies are deepening their reliance on AI with major firms, including Google, Amazon, and Meta, pouring billions into the emerging technology particularly in the construction of large-scale data centers across the nation. In April, Meta announced it would slash about 10 percent of its workforce, citing increased expenditures on AI.…