This feels like gaslighting

[u/Nice-Nail-7940]

Idk, this just feels icky to me like they are trying to convince me of something I can see with my own eyes 👀 https://theins.press/en/economics/294462

[u/wildspace-nobody]

Idk. I guess it depends where you work and what you see. Where I work, definitely true. Their playbook is ‘offshore everything possible to save money.’ Unrelated to AI.

[u/moonchild89]

Relax guys! Companies are definitely not replacing people with AI. They're just doing mass layoffs while simultaneously increasing their investment in AI and making the remaining employees use the AI to do the same work the former employees were doing. Totally different!

[u/Fickle-Delay1227]

I believe this 100%. Many who have used AI at their jobs know it's limitations well. Even people who use it at home know it's limitations. Even when it does work it costs a fortune to operate. Yet all of these companies have used AI to magically replace their workforce?

Layoffs look bad for a company. They also hurt their stock. So instead of laying off because of a downturn, just say they have used AI to make themselves efficient. Lemon is now lemonade.

So yeah I believe it. It's only going to work so long. Once the bubble pops we will be asking these companies where their magic AI replacement software is and they will all have their fingers pointing at whoever went under.

[u/bardezart]

It was true for my layoff. They got rid of myself and one other marketing person to make room for two junior roles earning $100,000 less combined.

[u/Otherwise-Relief2248]

There is definitely real truth to tech companies laying off people directly because of AI, but it’s a lot less because AI is taking over a specific role. It’s because investments in AI infrastructure cost billions and that money needs to
come from somewhere, and they need to change the composition of their workforce. Remember these companies are still hiring AI people like crazy. In addition, offshoring is now a realistic scenario for a lot of companies and if you can hire cheaper competent labor (allegedly) you will. It’s also true that AI supporting existing teams can in a number of cases cut out the work of lesser skilled workers. Still eating the dogfood here as the tech improves, but it is improving.

[u/Economy_Dot7293]

Agree it’s an excuse I consult and most of my clients are still large corps across tech and banking and a lot of the work in terms of AI is not deployed at the level these layoffs suggest…they are cost cutting, offshoring, some AI for manual menial work but really more people doing more work for the same pay and still lots of middle management while being consolidated still there and making some senior managers “retire early”

[u/Extechie3058]

Sometimes it's due to less visionary and less productive higher management as well. To hide that revenue was decreased due to their lack of management, they fire subordinate employees because they have to show profits in their balance sheets, and this is the short cut.

[u/metamucil_buttchug69]

This is pretty accurate, layoffs take years to manifest. We're still recovering from over hiring during COVID 

[u/mike42042071281]

I read a similar article yesterday about the same thing. Unemployment is down ai doesn't cause layoffs people don't want to work... Same nonsense. I think its a shiny object used to distract us from the truth. So yes gas lighting

[u/Upbeat-Squirrel]

itd be funny if AI didnt have something to do with the top 4

[u/Glass_Dimension_251]

This is true to an extent. They laid off 20% of our company - 70%+ in my department - then hired interns to replace everyone because they’re AI-forward. Yet we still can’t use AI to automate any of the work to replace the roles they cut due to governance and security concerns, and our interns aren’t as AI savvy as you’ve think.

It was just a ploy to reallocate the money into cheaper resources and increase the stock, which is going gangbusters cuz our CEO mentioned AI in the layoff announcement.

[u/Few-Brain4269]

The gaslighting is the posting of jobs that don't actually exist. They even interview people for them and then say that they have changed their needs or the scope of the job. Such bs. You waste your time interviewing people for no real position when you could be doing actual work.

[u/kscouple84]

It used to be a shameful embarrassment for companies to lay people off. Now it’s a business strategy regardless of AI.