General Motors quietly laid off about 500 to 600 employees this week in a sweeping global shakeup that reportedly blindsided workers with unsettling emails, abrupt virtual meetings and growing fears that artificial intelligence is reshaping the automaker’s workforce.

Many of the affected employees — largely IT workers in Michigan, Texas and other locations around the globe — learned their fate during brief meetings that some workers described as cold and scripted.

“No appreciation or empathy. No questions. Nothing,” one laid-off employee who spent more than a decade at GM told CNBC.

General Motors laid off roughly 500 to 600 employees this week as the automaker restructures its IT workforce and expands its use of artificial intelligence.…