Was just talking to a friend at a US technology company, they’ve had their budget reduced by 50% as the company says it wants to announce “the largest layoffs in US corporate history” to prove GenAI can replace jobs.
There’s no plan to actually replace the jobs with GenAI.. they just have to decimate their area.
Not naming company as the staff don’t know they’re about to fed to the line going up.
The vibe I'm getting from lots of people at lots of orgs now is, you know during Fyre Festival, that marketing dude was like "Let's just do it and be legends, man!" when challenged about issues.
That's the GenAI plan fundamentally. Lots of people are making decisions without really knowing what they're doing, because everybody else is doing it. FOMO marketing.
I suspect a lot of large companies are going to look like this in a few years:
@GossiTheDog
FOMO marketing seems to be all there is anymore in tech.
Sucks in the short to medium term.
Oh God, so glad I retired
@GossiTheDog my annoyance is the companies are going to be ok, because they are all making the same bet. They'll find ways to make the money work eventually; or write off the losses.
It's the people who will suffer unnecessarily because of this bullshit.
@andrewmelder @GossiTheDog The answer to "too big to fail" is nationalisation. Let the organisation continue to run but take it from the shareholders.
@msb @andrewmelder I wasn't thinking of a bailout. When companies go bankrupt, a receiver decides what happens next - and that is normally appointed by the government. If the company is restructured the receiver could elect to pay suppliers and employees, while telling shareholders and bondholders that they get nothing. The government simply assumes control and injects just enough working capital to keep things working.
From the moment the company goes insolvent, it's all up to the receiver.
@msb @andrewmelder My view is that, at the point the bankruptcy happens, the shares cease to exist. If the company was performing a public good that makes it "too big to fail" then the government owns everything and the shareholders and bondholders get nothing - just as they would if the government let the organisation fail.
All taxpayer money should go to that public good. Not one penny for the people that ignored the risk.
@msb @andrewmelder Corporate infrastructure is not the same as shareholding, otherwise takeovers would be impossible. I'm thinking of something like a takeover but at a share price of 0.
And bondholders can *** off.
@msb @andrewmelder Please go back and read the Wikipedia article I linked on moral hazard. Once the taxpayers start paying for worthless shares, the shareholders who failed to hold management to account are compensated for their incompetence.
Not just principle - there are meme stock companies with P/E in centuries whose shareholders will demand compensation for trillions of dollars that don't exist.
Not a penny of taxpayer money should go to shareholders or bondholders. Find another way.
@CassandraVert @GossiTheDog I scroll for 30 seconds, and a perfect example appears in my feed:
DOJ claims xAI's gas turbines are a matter of 'national and energy security' ---- - 2 hours ago | 14 points | 6 comments - URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/16/doj-claims-xais-unpermitted-gas-turbines-are-a-matter-of-national-economic-and-energy-security/ - Discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48565429 - Summary: The Department of Justice has sided with xAI in a lawsuit filed by the NAACP seeking to halt the company's use of dozens of unpermitted natural gas turbines at its Memphis data centers. In a court filing, the DOJ argued that shutting down the turbines would threaten American national, economic, and energy security, claiming xAI's Grok model supports mission-critical military operations. xAI contends that the 57 trailer-mounted turbines are exempt from Mississippi air pollution regulations for one year. However, the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center argue their use violates federal law, as the units qualify as stationary sources. The groups say the already heavily polluted region has suffered worsened air quality since the centers began operating, with increased levels of harmful pollutants like PM2.5, formaldehyde, and nitrogen oxides linked to serious health risks. Since last year, the number of turbines has more than doubled. Now a division of SpaceX, xAI plans to purchase an additional $2.8 billion worth of gas turbines over the next three years, including at least $2 billion in mobile units.
@GossiTheDog lol 'AI is the Fyre Festival of technology marketing' is a good take.
I like a good music festival, just like many of the underlying technologies behind "AI" could do amazing things, in the right hands.
@GossiTheDog kinda like how the US govt is being run at the moment.
folks with no idea what they’re supposed to be doing, let alone how to do anything, but hey, let’s just shut this part down and fire this group and wow! that was fun! let’s do more of that!
@GossiTheDog Reminds me of The Big Short, when they visit the empty bank offices after the crash.
"What did you expect we'd find?"
"Grown-ups..."
Every slack channel: Hey Luigi, it's Luigi. How's Luigi doing on that sprint that Luigi's team is waiting on? Great! I'll let Luigi know.
If it happens, it'll be all over the news.
TBF, I was probably already boycotting them for being American.
@mattblaze @GossiTheDog it really is another form of premillenial dispensationalism nonsense.
Sunnyvale, California blocked critical improvements to public transit in the city because autonomous cars were just around the corner. (And poor people didn't deserve salvation, er, public transit.)
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