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I've become convinced that "investing in AI" is just the magic incantation CEOs are using to spin layoffs as a positive rather than a negative for the company's
by bloppe 7mo ago
I've become convinced that "investing in AI" is just the magic incantation CEOs are using to spin layoffs as a positive rather than a negative for the company's reputation among investors
- apercu 7mo agoIt's PR to cover management failure due to "me too", which reached ridiculous levels in the last 5 years.
- lokar 7mo agoI don't see what it has to do with "me too" Take block: AFAICT, it was just really badly managed. A long time ago it got about as much share of its main market as it was going to get. They took the cash flow from that and hired a bunch more engineers to try to break into adjacent markets, and failed, and failed and failed. Now they are just retreating to the steady income from their core business
- entropicdrifter 7mo agoPretty sure by putting "me too" in quotes and not saying #MeToo, what they're talking about is really FOMO. The companies are performing layoffs because of the trend
- lokar 7mo agoOh, probably
- apercu 7mo agoAs previous commenter said “me too” in the (lack of) leadership vein, not the sexual harassment tag.
- afavour 7mo agoI don't really see any relevance to "me too". Far more likely it's to cover from insane overhearing in the pandemic era, and no one wants to admit they overdid it.
- dv_dt 7mo agoI would guess the opposite, that anti-woke statements from management is a big red flag correlating with poor company performance
- Bluescreenbuddy 7mo agoHow is this in any way related to me too? How is that what to took from this? I implore you to think critically.
- odshoifsdhfs 7mo agoYou are being downvoted because of the 'me too', but think you are refering to companies copying other companies (Amazon hires 10k? We hire 10k! Google fires 5k? we fire 5k) and not the 'me too' movement about sexual assault/harrassement.
- dormento 7mo agoPeople are downvoting because they think is "that" me too. What op meant is all the copycat management. "They use roflcopter.js? Then we must. They use AI? Then we must. They hire/fire 9070 people? Then we must."
- afavour 7mo agoYup. I thought this was an interesting take on the Block layoffs, from a former employee: "I Worked for Block. Its A.I. Job Cuts Aren’t What They Seem." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/opinion/block-jack-dorsey-layoffs-ai.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/opinion/block-jack-dorsey...
- mandeepj 7mo agoalso - "Salesforce CEO says Block's cuts shouldn't fuel worries of mass layoffs: 'That company has its own unique issues'" https://www.aol.com/articles/salesforce-ceo-says-blocks-cuts-183522292.html https://www.aol.com/articles/salesforce-ceo-says-blocks-cuts... one more :-) - https://gizmodo.com/sam-altman-says-companies-are-ai-washing-layoffs-2000724759 https://gizmodo.com/sam-altman-says-companies-are-ai-washing...
- toomuchtodo 7mo agoJack Dorsey’s 4,000 Job Cuts at Block Arouse Suspicions of AI-Washing - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-01/jack-dorsey-s-4-000-job-cuts-at-block-arouse-suspicions-of-ai-washing https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-01/jack-dors... | https://archive.today/QhUJT https://archive.today/QhUJT - March 1st, 2026 Sam Altman Says Companies Are ‘AI Washing’ Layoffs - https://gizmodo.com/sam-altman-says-companies-are-ai-washing-layoffs-2000724759 https://gizmodo.com/sam-altman-says-companies-are-ai-washing... - February 21st, 2026 HN Search: AI Washing - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=AI%20washing&sort=byDate&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
- lofaszvanitt 7mo agoThey shove off people forced on them so they could grow faster, but the problem is, they don't have the ideas....
- bigfatkitten 7mo agoAI isn’t replacing anyone, rather the money previously used to pay those people’s salaries etc is now being spent on AI.
- ptak_dev 7mo ago[flagged]