The AI tech job slaughter gets real
The rise of generative AI has led to significant layoffs in the tech industry, with many companies replacing human workers with AI or reallocating funds to AI infrastructure. Despite the hype surrounding AI, studies indicate that a large percentage of AI projects fail to deliver measurable business impact. Workers are experiencing low morale and anxiety as they face job insecurity and the pressure of training their AI replacements.
- ▪Nearly 38,000 tech jobs have been cut this year, with almost half attributed to AI-related decisions.
- ▪A study found that 88% of proof-of-concept AI projects never reach production.
- ▪Many employees are feeling miserable and anxious about their job security amid ongoing layoffs.
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Ever since generative AI went mainstream, we’ve known this was coming. Now, hardly a week goes by without yet another tech company announcing AI-related layoffs. Credit: Shutterstock/Stock-Asso Tech companies seem to be falling over each other these days in firing people to either replace them with AI or to pay to build AI infrastructure. Wouldn’t it be nice if they at least waited until AI actually worked for business? On the one hand, top tech businesses such as Amazon, Block, Cisco, Cloudflare, and Meta have all announced that they’re slashing payrolls — either because AI can do the same work as people or they need the cash to build out their AI infrastructure. Isn’t that great? All together, of the 37,638 tech job cuts so far this year, 47.9% — almost half — can be tracked back to AI.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Computerworld.
