AI plays !some! role, but the real culprit conists of two things: - Zirp policy ended as countries started using currencies other than the dollar for internati

AI plays !some! role, but the real culprit conists of two things: - Zirp policy ended as countries started using currencies other than the dollar for international trade. Now the Fed and private banks cant print money and distribute zero-interest loans. This stopped the 'free cash' that used to go into Silicon Valley. A lot of money has either moved to interest vehicles or foreign investments/currencies. So Silicon Valley doesnt have cash to burn as it did before. As a result, they are having to back the valuations/stock prices with their profitability instead of the infinite cash that kept coming into the market doing it for them. Hence, the layoffs and focus on profitability. - Trump did something to reclassify something legally and that stopped allowing tech companies to show their software engineering work as research to reduce their taxes or something. And Biden did not reverse it. (surprise). Or Biden may have done it, not certain at this point. Whatever it was, it went into effect 2-2.5 years ago and made headcount more costly.