4 ms·
The article assumes that jobs that can be automated are vulnerable. But in the postmortem of the AI driven layoffs so far, it's more that expectations about AI
by Zigurd 2mo ago
The article assumes that jobs that can be automated are vulnerable. But in the postmortem of the AI driven layoffs so far, it's more that expectations about AI and productivity are driving the job cuts.
In other words shareholders and senior management are being shown the appearance of expectations about AI being met, whether or not it's working. Entry-level jobs are an obvious place to look things that can be cut to create an AI budget.
- jordanb 2mo agoYep if a hiring manager wants to open a req for a junior, before AI he'd get praise for being tight with budget and hiring someone cheap and trainable. Now he gets asked: if a junior can do the work why aren't you using AI? So instead of opening the req he says to the team "we need to figure out how to make AI do more."
- bcjdjsndon 2mo ago> Entry-level jobs are an obvious place to look things that can be cut to create an AI budget. Kitchen potwasher, day labourer, apprentice welder etc none of these entry level jobs are affected by an LLM. But nobody on HN works in those industries.... connection maybe?
- bluefirebrand 2mo agoI think "junior software engineer" is more like the entry level job that people on HN care about
- tfrancisl 2mo agoIt's not what the article or study are about. Theyre about entry level white collar jobs.
- bcjdjsndon 2mo agoIs it? I can't find a list of job titles but I saw it included manufacturing industries...
- HolyLampshade 2mo agoMortgaging the future to pay for the present. All of these executives are operating under the pretense that they won’t be held accountable when in 10-15yr their middle bench is a disaster, and they’re probably right.
- morkalork 2mo agoThese executives are going to get some short-term performance based payout and move to another company while talking up the "Bold AI transformation" they lead waaaay before any fallout kicks in. Notice how there's less "We moved to Cloud / on-prem" slop on LinkedIn? It's because the same people have a new bandwagon to chase.
- HolyLampshade 2mo agoOf course! I have the curse of working/having worked in the financial sector, so all of the “Linkedin People” I know moved from crypto horseshit to AI horseshit. Before that it’s just as you said, cloud horseshit. Can’t wait to see what horseshit is next.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2mo ago>All of these executives are operating under the pretense that they won’t be held accountable when in 10-15yr their middle bench is a disaster, and they’re probably right. If everyone's middle bench is a disaster, there's no one that did it right to contrast their poor decision-making. They're hiding the evidence that will help them skip accountability.
- HolyLampshade 2mo agoI think the sad thing is they don’t even have to hide it. Absolutely no one will be held directly accountable for these decisions, either because they’ll be retired, or the “responsibility” can be whitewashed through organizational decision making. As another commenter mentioned, they’ll all get their performance bonuses, and by the time the bills come due either they’ll be gone, or no one will know why in the hell they’re in the situation they’re in. Middle bench decay is like some sort of complex immune deficiency. No one can quite put their finger on what’s wrong, but the org can’t pull its collective head out of its ass. For many companies this happens naturally as it progresses from the dynamic operating environment of high competition to one of maintenance. Staff levels bloat and after a while no one has a grasp on the big picture and the institution forgets why it’s doing what it’s doing. What’s amazing to me is that these companies that are lighting their hiring process on fire are willingly accelerating this process.