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 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.
Kevin Beaumont
Andrew Melder
Simon EI3JDB
Msb