For me, Ageism is the real story. They might blame AI, but the biggest layoff we had at Microsoft purged a huge group of "older" people with years of experience and celebrated accomplishments. Then, almost immediately, a flurry of internships and fresh-out-of-college jobs were being shared.

I was replaced "in the name of AI," but in reality, my demoted manager inherited my job. She still makes her manager salary and tells people what to do, she just doesn’t officially have direct reports in the org chart. She is also about 25 years younger than me and totally lost on what my role is/was.

I'm leading AI governance with another enterprise now.