Layoffs have been a defining feature of the job market in 2025, with several major companies announcing thousands of job cuts driven by artificial intelligence.
In fact, AI was responsible for almost 55,000 layoffs in the U.S. this year, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Correction: AI was the excuse behind 50,000 layoffs.
Schrodinger’s AI: It’s both useless slop that serves no real purpose while simultaneously, it’s actually good enough to replace people.
No, it’s not a paradox, as it’s both CEOs totally thinking it’s the next great thing, and it’s not good enough to replace people, but either way it’s a hell of a good reason to cut labor for that next quarter bonus.
I take it back, it may not be the CEO that’s the driving force usually, but the CTO/CIO who are trying to validate their existence.
To me, it just shows how out of touch and useless most CEOs are. The modern executive model is totally broken, these people effectively don’t actually do anything, and they ultimately destroy shareholder value when they are supposed to be protecting it. The executive compensation model is supremely broken, and if AI can replace anyone, it’s them. Not the people that make things and processes function.
Problem is, AI was built and trained on the sort of broken logic that prevails today, so if it replaced executives it would probably act in an even worse manner. Because it’s a reference tool at most (and a shitty one that’s in a primitive state), not a replacement for human capital.
whenever we talk about a “RIF” at work (reduction in force) I shoehorn “layoffs” “firings” “unemployment” into the conversation to re-humanize the cost.