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If AI Isn’t Ready to Replace Workers, Why Are Companies Cutting Jobs Anyway?
Inc. Magazine ^ | April 14, 2026 | AI, Computers, Windows, ChatGPT

Posted on 04/15/2026 12:02:31 PM PDT by fireman15

A growing number of experts argue that many companies blaming artificial intelligence for job cuts are masking more familiar financial and strategic pressures.

The good news for employees worried about the countless predictions of a looming job apocalypse from artificial intelligence (AI) taking work away from humans has not been borne out—at least not yet. However, that hasn’t prevented an increasing number of companies from citing productivity gains made by using those task automating apps as the reason for thousands of recent layoffs they’ve made.

But now, a growing chorus of critics have begun denouncing most of those staff reductions as cynical, manipulative “AI-washing” of headcount reductions that employers feel forced to make—and for reasons entirely unrelated to the emerging tech.

Those accusations have grown louder in recent weeks as companies including Amazon, Pinterest, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Meta, and others have announced headcount cuts they’ve either partially or fully attributed to the work automating capabilities of AI. More recently, tech innovator Jack Dorsey explained he was eliminating about 4,000 jobs—or about 40 percent of all positions—at his fintech company Block on the logic “intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company.”

Shortly after that, software firm followed suit by Atlassian saying it would cut 10 percent of its workforce, or 1,600 people, as AI apps take over departing employees’ work.

(Excerpt) Read more at inc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Reference
KEYWORDS: ai; ailayoffs; chatgpt; computers; windows
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To: fireman15

Fear not!

The Dark Reset has been replaced by Light.


21 posted on 04/15/2026 12:54:38 PM PDT by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: fireman15

Could somebody start pointing to somebody who has been completely replaced by an AI system?

Because I can point to many people that have been replaced by the 5 million H1B visa holders.


22 posted on 04/15/2026 1:03:25 PM PDT by jroehl (And how we burned in the camps later - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago)
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To: fireman15

Do a search on “AI Layoff Trap.”


23 posted on 04/15/2026 1:11:20 PM PDT by IndispensableDestiny
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To: fireman15

I just noticed: “Norman Rockwell”!


24 posted on 04/15/2026 1:14:39 PM PDT by HandyDandy (“Borders, language and culture.” Michael Savage)
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To: fireman15

AI also means Always Indians.


25 posted on 04/15/2026 1:18:24 PM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.)
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To: fireman15

“If AI Isn’t Ready to Replace Workers, Why Are Companies Cutting Jobs Anyway?”

simple: they saw elon nuke 80% of twitter employees without a hiccup to the business, and many realized they could do something similar ... they took the 80/20 rule to heart [now 90/10], and thought: “If 80% of the work is done by 20% of my employees, why do i need the other 80%?” ...


26 posted on 04/15/2026 1:20:44 PM PDT by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: TexasGator

That it!
What it misses, the 10-15 deer get.😊


27 posted on 04/15/2026 1:34:07 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the Change You Filthy Animal !)
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To: fireman15

I used, or I should say I had a coworker use AI to create a profile picture for me.
The picture was from a party last year and he filtered out everything else and even put a sport jacket on me that matched my tie.
He’s dangerous 😄


28 posted on 04/15/2026 1:37:45 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the Change You Filthy Animal !)
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To: fireman15

Because the AI program told them to fire them?


29 posted on 04/15/2026 1:56:41 PM PDT by jerod (Nazis were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: Truthsearcher

Yes. AI is just the excuse to mow down the headcount


30 posted on 04/15/2026 1:57:21 PM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Anschluss now !)
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To: MotorCityBuck
Cool! Good for you. Which one is out there slaving away so you can sip your piña colada?


31 posted on 04/15/2026 1:58:15 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ( )
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To: fireman15

It’s a great excuse to wipe out the 80% of useless people at companies thanks to DEI and hiring useless college graduates. What I haven’t seen in any of these stories of the positions of those who were fired. There is anecdotal evidence all over podcasts with people laughing at the crying folks who were “I was director of social media relations” “I was assistant diversity branding officer” and other such garbage. I wonder how much economic activity has been wasted on these useless positions in companies? For a laugh always go back to that girl, who the day before getting fired when Elon Musk took over twitter, filmed her work day. She did absolutely nothing all day. “I went to yoga, then I had a latte, then I took a nap in the play room after playing pin pong, and we have these cool pods we can think in” The next day after getting fired, “WAAAAA. Elon fired me. I was so valuable to the company.”


32 posted on 04/15/2026 2:00:53 PM PDT by Organic Panic
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Oh, joy! Will this get the Mexicans out of Tennessee?


33 posted on 04/15/2026 2:03:36 PM PDT by who knows what evil? (Hospitals are the most dangerous place on Earth! Dr. David Williams)
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To: MotorCityBuck

Deer love the weeds. I have no weeds.

They do live the hibiscus.


34 posted on 04/15/2026 2:05:56 PM PDT by TexasGator (-11..)
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To: fireman15

“that all the AI generated crap code without good documentation, has made his job more secure”

What a mess. More secure but less fun.


35 posted on 04/15/2026 3:06:35 PM PDT by cymbeline
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To: fireman15

Because they can.


36 posted on 04/15/2026 3:11:20 PM PDT by cqnc (sic transit gloria mundi...)
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To: Truthsearcher

We have a WINNER!!!


37 posted on 04/15/2026 3:12:39 PM PDT by cqnc (sic transit gloria mundi...)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom; TexasGator
Lymon. Dual blade.
Only works in flat backyard.
Front yard has “The Empire of The Ground Hog”
They Rule there.😄
38 posted on 04/15/2026 3:47:10 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the Change You Filthy Animal !)
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To: HandyDandy
I just noticed: “Norman Rockwell”!

This is an AI image that I asked Gemini to generate in the style of Norman Rockwell. I typically ask the AI chatbot to remove the name to avoid any confusion, but this time I did not.

39 posted on 04/15/2026 4:51:38 PM PDT by fireman15
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To: fireman15

I am fascinated by AI pictures. I don’t have a clue how they are done. But I am mesmerized by them. Especially the retro nostalgic ones like the one you shared. They have a certain magic about them.


40 posted on 04/15/2026 5:24:29 PM PDT by HandyDandy (“Borders, language and culture.” Michael Savage)
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