Are the Layoffs about AI?

Question

The reigning narrative is that tech companies over-hired during the pandemic, and now they need to lay off a bunch of employees.Some people say it's all a fake-money, low-interest-rate, butts-in-seats thing. Or an increased efficiency WFH thing.Almost nobody seems to think the layoffs are related to AI. That makes me think: Are the layoffs related to AI?The more I think about it, the more the layoffs definitely seem to be about AI. Over-hiring during a pandemic...? All of the reasons just seem flimsier and flimsier. They're offered reasons, not real reasons.

juve1996 · Accepted Answer

> Over-hiring during a pandemic...? All of the reasons just seem flimsier and flimsier. They're offered reasons, not real reasons.
It's not just over-hiring during a pandemic. It's over-hiring during an era of cheap cash with insane demand that is now coming to an end and everyone knows it.
The fact is a lot of tech had a lot of bullshit that doesn't make money, which matters now.

smoldesu · Answer

AI fearmongering could be one of many factors, but the fact remains that most companies were way overstaffed going into the pandemic. People offer these reasons because they are credible explanations for mass intersectional layoffs. It's not very gratifying to the average sci-fi fan, but the economic incentives to lay people off were much stronger than the technological ones.

skepticATX · Answer

If AI was doing work that used to be done by these laid off employees it should be readily apparent. So, the question is, do we have any evidence that this is occurring? I have not seen any.

brianjking · Answer

No, it's coming from rapacious CEOs and boards.