Cory DoctorowFeb 28

One thing we know about the mass tech layoffs attributed to "AI" is that they follow a trend of mass tech layoffs that firms were formerly forced to admit were the result of their businesses contracting sharply after the lockdowns ended, when users didn't need nearly so many cloud services. By blaming the continuing layoffs on "AI," companies whose business continues to contract can tell investors that they are on the bleeding edge, not the contracting tail.

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Show threadPaco Hope

@pluralistic
No company has announced “thanks to AI, we have the same number of employees, but we have launched zillions of new services and are growing our product lines because of all the time our people get to spend innovating.”

I don’t know why that is.

Feb 28 at 12:57pmWeb
Show threadwonkothesaneFeb 28

@paco @pluralistic Cannot fave/boost this enough.

The proof of the pudding…

Show threadAndreas KFeb 28
@paco
That's not three rule that scapegoat #AI is playing in the traditional neoliberal decimation here.
@pluralistic
Show threadZośkaFeb 28

@paco @pluralistic

They don't want to earn more, they want to spend less...

Show threadHugo MillsFeb 28

@theZosia @paco @pluralistic Oh, that's easy to do. Just shut down the company and cease trading. Total expenditure afterwards is zero.

Be careful what you optimise for. :)

Show threadDr. Eric J. Fielding, PhDFeb 28
@paco @pluralistic Another way to explain the layoffs is, “we are spending billions of dollars on AI data centers, so we don’t have funds left to pay for human employees”.
Show threaddreidFeb 28
@paco @pluralistic similarly no one has announced "thanks to AI we have moved to a 4 day workweek."
Show threadsauc3Feb 28

@paco @pluralistic

It's wild, it's almost like the companies going super hard for "AI" are just lying about their results. Shocking!

Show threadZuri (he/him) ❌️👑 🕐 CETMar 3
@paco @pluralistic "Thanks to AI, we can get allegedly more done (at least we feel this way) with less people (that we laid off) as can be seen by our profits (our money currently comes from subsidies)"