“OpenAI plans to almost double its headcount by the end of the year as it accelerates a push to sell to businesses and gain ground on rival #Anthropic in a race for a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The $730bn start-up was aiming to grow to about 8,000 #employees from about 4,500 today, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The #NewHires will largely work across product #development, #engineering, #research and #sales.

#OpenAI would also step up recruitment of specialists to focus on what the company calls “technical ambassadorship”, helping #businesses make better use of its tools, according to the people.”

The quiet bit out loud; AI is meant to be better, more efficient than people.

Why is OpenAI with Altman as boss doubling the #workforce? When (if) OpenAI catch up will these workers be fired again? Is AI being used as smokescreen for sackings? 🤪🤣🤫

#ZeroHourWork / #WhiteCollar <https://ft.com/content/7ffea5b4-e8bc-47cd-adb4-257f84c8028b> / <https://archive.md/brHX5>

“Sources familiar with the matter say the company (#META) could lay off as much as 20 percent of its staff, eliminating roughly 15,800 positions. That would be the largest series of #layoffs at the company since it #terminated 22,000 workers over just a few months between November 2022 and early 2023.

Word of the potential #downsizing comes after Meta signaled that it was all but giving up on #VR and the #Metaverse, slashing budgets and closing studios. Instead, the company has been spending big to attract #AITalent, build #DataCenters, and acquire companies like #Moltbook.”

I note the “silver bullet” approach by a company who was founded on PHP widgets and #SocialMedia.

#WhiteCollar / #ZeroHourWork <http://theverge.com/business/895026/meta-laying-off-20-percent> / <https://archive.md/MlrOR>

“Software giant #Atlassian has announced it is #LayingOff about 10% of its #workforce, or roughly 1,600 positions, and replacing its chief technology officer as it restructures to invest further in #ArtificialIntelligence.

More than 900 affected positions were involved in #SoftwareResearch and development, a spokesperson said. Most of Atlassian’s #employees work in #SoftwareEngineering and #design, accounting for over 50% of its 13,813 full-time workforce in June 2025.

About 640 affected employees are in #NorthAmerica, 480 in #Australia and 250 in #india with the remainder spread across #Japan, the #Philippines, #Europe, the #MiddleEast and #Africa, according to the spokesperson.”

A reminder this company was created in #java by a bunch of “Blub programmers” 🤪😣🤣

#WhiteCollar / #ZeroHourWork / #Entrepreneurs / #Straya / #AI / #SaaS / #software <https://theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/12/atlassian-layoffs-software-technology-ai-push-mike-cannon-brookes-asx>

“few other human activities offer such unambiguous feedback. There are no objective tests for whether financial analysis or advertising copy is “good.” Undeterred, AI companies set out to make such tests, collectively paying billions of dollars to professionals of all types to write exacting and comprehensive criteria for a job well done.”

“… of the more than 30 workers I spoke with occupied a position along a vast and growing data-supply chain. There are people crafting #checklists that define a good #ChatbotResponse, typically called “#rubrics,” and other people grading those rubrics. Others #grade chatbot answers according to those rubrics, and still others take the rubrics and write out what’s often described as a “#GoldenOutput,” or the ideal chatbot answer.”

“Others are asked to explain every step they took to arrive at this golden output in the voice of a #chatbot thinking to itself, producing what’s called a “#ReasoningTrace” for #AI to follow later when it encounters a similar task out in the real world. Sometimes the labs want only rubrics for prompts their AI can’t already do, which means companies like #Mercor ask workers to produce “#stumpers,” or requests that will make the #AIModel fail.”

It’s not that AI will totally replace the expertise of #WhiteCollar PhD, Legal and other specialist professions. What will happen is that hard earned expertise will be priced lower. How low? As low as AI technology can make it, think Communist era pay.

#ZeroHourWork / #work / #economics / #SupplyDemand <http://theverge.com/cs/features/877388/white-collar-workers-training-ai-mercor> (paywall) / <https://archive.md/kAiZL>

"It is hard to communicate how much #programming has changed due to #AI in the last two months: not gradually and over time in the 'progress as usual' way, but specifically this last December," he said. "There are a number of asterisks but [in my opinion] #CodingAgents basically didn't work before December and basically work since – the #models have significantly higher quality, long-term coherence and tenacity and they can power through large and long tasks, well past enough that it is extremely disruptive to the default programming #workflow

#NanoClaw / #WhiteCollar / #ZeroHourWork <https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/01/nanoclaw_container_openclaw/

“#Amazon has told managers to incorporate projected #AIEfficiencies into headcount planning for the year, according to two people familiar with the matter.

This has led to pushback, including an open letter signed anonymously by current and former #staff members, which argued the company was investing in a #future where it would be easier to discard #employees.

“Here’s what we’re actually experiencing: higher expected output and shorter timelines, mandates to build #AITools for wasteful use cases, and massive investment in #AI with little investment in career advancement,” the letter, published last November, said.

“As soon as AI got introduced, #deadlines started shortening, and people were expected to do more as quickly,” said one signatory who was made #redundant last year. “It was heavily implied we would be graded on use.”

Multiple current #AWS #software #developers said they were being asked to take on new #roles with the assistance of AI tools. They noted technical writing teams had been laid off, with engineers now required to complete these tasks. AI use had also been formally written into some workers’ promotion criteria, the developers said.”

#WhiteCollar / #ZeroHourWork <https://archive.md/c5NGK> / <https://ft.com/content/433f41f2-bf6d-4bdf-a561-50ab516bc62d>

“A #Woolworths spokesperson said in a statement to the #BBC that the responses about birthdays had been written by a #human.”

#AI / #ArtificialIntelligence / #ZeroHourWork / #WhiteCollar <https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7jeyeyd18o>