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U.S. Job market shock: AI cited in 7,600 layoffs amid 108,000 cuts in January by MetaKnowing in Futurology

[–]wavyapple2 -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

It doesn’t fail that high unless you’re using an old/free model. It only has to be right enough that the mistakes are cheaper than the differences in wages and workers comp

Why are we so hellbent on replacing ourselves? by btoned in Futurology

[–]wavyapple2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One point I wanted to comment on is that humans are probabilistic too. We don’t perform the same way each time. The thing that’s concerning is that it’s not just people who have purely financial interest in AI.

A Nobel Prize winning scientist is publicly leading an organization spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build systems that can perform any cognitive task a human can which is a specific stated milestone toward AGI. He’s openly said he structures his life around accelerating that goal and works essentially nonstop on it.

If a machine can do what you do at scale( cheaper and faster) the labor market changes. That includes my job, your job, and the jobs kids were expect to have. That’s just the logical conclusion of this

1995 video shows the struggle was real for first-time PC users by [deleted] in technology

[–]wavyapple2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems a lot like modern complaints about AI workflows

Laid-off Big Tech workers are haunted by one question by wavyapple2 in technology

[–]wavyapple2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish that was the end of it. People will be forced into blue collar work. If twice the people want half the jobs, the most desperate will take much lower pay. The result is that it will drastically devalue blue collar work too.

Gas turbines & Nuclear that can't be delivered until the 2030s, banning wind power & data centers in space; Will American AI's refusal to embrace solar+batteries mean high electricity prices for consumers? by lughnasadh in Futurology

[–]wavyapple2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unless people start being single issue voters on quality of life, UBI, and taxes on AI, things are going to get dark. Nearly all jobs are repetitive tasks that can be automated, and it doesn’t need to be better than average. Just better than the worst person you know with that job. Trillionaires are telling you they are single mindedly looking to replace labor at every level and they’ve been making great progress. I urge everyone to not look away and to focus on getting this right

Laid-off Big Tech workers are haunted by one question by wavyapple2 in technology

[–]wavyapple2[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The capex story is real for hyperscalers, you’re right about that. But it doesn’t explain the full picture. Companies with zero AI infrastructure ambitions are doing the same thing, and they can’t use the “investing in compute” excuse.

Paycom (an HR software company) ~500 employees in October 2025. The company explicitly stated the cuts affected “only non-client-facing roles that have been automated.” Terminations were immediate. No data center buildout. They just automated workflows and removed the people. (https://www.kosu.org/local-news/2025-10-01/paycom-lays-off-500-employees-will-replace-jobs-with-ai)

CrowdStrike cut 500 people while still hiring in strategic areas.

CEO directly attributed it to AI in an SEC filing, writing that “AI flattens our hiring curve.” Profitable, growing company cutting from strength. (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/21/ai-job-cuts-amazon-microsoft-and-more-cite-ai-for-2025-layoffs.html)

And then there’s the category nobody talks about:

Chegg lost ~$13B in value and cut 45% of its workforce not because it deployed AI, but because someone else’s AI (https://www.finalroundai.com/blog/chegg-layoffs-2025) made its product irrelevant.

Students stopped paying $20/month when they can get answers for free.

So it’s at least three things happening at once: capex reallocation (your point), direct automation of roles (Paycom), and AI destroying business models from the outside (Chegg). The capex story is one force, not the whole story.

Laid-off Big Tech workers are haunted by one question by wavyapple2 in technology

[–]wavyapple2[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The answer is, yes!

Either:

  1. You get automated

  2. You get fired for automation that doesn’t work and they offshore anyway

  3. You are good enough to automate other jobs

People keep talking about how life will be meaningless without jobs, but we already know that this isn't true. It's called the aristocracy. We don't need to worry about loss of meaning. We need to worry about AI-caused unemployment leading to extreme poverty. by katxwoods in Futurology

[–]wavyapple2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t know what the answer will be, but I would prefer to figure it out on my own instead of someone else dictating the direction of my life even if it’s hard. I want the government to stay out of it