#ai

We all know it's coming and we know they'll do anything to cut labor as much as possible. All of us here have an expiration date.

https://www.pymnts.com/walmart/2026/walmart-tries-to-assuage-ai-worries-as-tech-related-layoffs-rise/

Well, the reality of its price and ROI. It's going to be so much fun to sit here and watch as the price tag balloons to ten times what it would have cost to keep the people who were laid of to be replaced by it. And then to watch them scramble to get the same quality of people back. I'm seated.

90% of us will be replaced by AI by 2031. I'm retiring in 2030, but what about everyone else who is under 50? What's your plan??

Verizon Replacing Its Customer Service Personnel With AI Has Turned Live Chat Queries Into Low-Quality ChatGPT-Like Replies, Enraging Customers -- Omar Sohail
Jun 5, 2026 at 11:52am EDT.

Companies will eventually replace humans carrying out what they believe to be menial tasks with AI, and U.S. carriers are no exception, with their Live Chat department now being handled with chatbots that are providing less-than-useful replies to customers. In fact, a regular user of ChatGPT likely noticed that Verizon’s own service is providing similar low-quality responses, tarnishing the company’s reputation while also impacting the experience for millions.

Knowing the technical mistakes that AI can make, Verizon should only completely replace its Live Chat service after properly training its models.

The AI’s responses being similar to ChatGPT’s were noticed by Redditor “Hot_Saguaro,” who says that Verizon wasn’t even hiding the fact that the chatbot was providing technical answers similar to OpenAI’s service. After attempting to ask why her iPad wasn’t connecting to the internet, a Verizon representative said it’s because her service address is still her old address. She immediately countered, saying that another customer living in the same block was facing the same problem.

Verizon CEO Dan Schulman has previously stated that the company will focus more on customer service to boost the experience than shell out promotions, but it appears that the Chief Executive’s efforts have fallen short.

As expected in the Reddit thread, people were not thrilled with Verizon’s direction of replacing humans with AI, with a former employee saying that “one of our selling points was that we didn’t offshore call centers. It’s gone so downhill from when I used to work there.” It’s only appropriate that Verizon holds off on completely replacing its Live Chat with AI until it has properly trained its model to handle customer queries properly.

Simply integrating its service with ChatGPT won’t win the company any awards, especially when AI can make a boatload of technical mistakes that will be pointed out by users who are even slightly knowledgeable about carriers and their network’s functionality.

https://wccftech.com/verizon-replacing-humans-with-ai-for-live-chat-is-lowering-response-quality/

Be prepared - the customer doesn't care about you or your family.

How many if you try to enjoy your Sunday...but in the back of your mind wonder if tomorrow's Monday brings that HR meeting and the Hallowed "Reading the prepared text" letting you know your position has been replaced by a cheap labor offshore or A.I.?

Earlier this year, Meta cut thousands of employees and told investors the reductions were necessary to fund its AI ambitions. The company redirected that payroll into infrastructure, researchers, and models designed to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Mark Zuckerberg called it the most important investment Meta would ever make.

The first real test of whether that trade-off is working just arrived , and the answer is not straightforward.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-meta-face-first-164700000.html

Why don’t we just replace the worthless SLT with AI? The direction will be way more focused and with clear strategy. We will save tens of millions if not hundreds of millions when counting stock comp and bonuses.

Genuine question.

From collaboration, security, networking, HyperShield, AI Canvas, Cisco Cloud Control, and everything in between, how does this keep working?

Every launch seems to come with a qualifier: “early availability,” “controlled launch,” “limited release,” “regional availability,” “coming soon,” or “customer preview.” Then next quarter the story changes and we’re on to the next announcement.

This has been going on since the G2 days, yet the market keeps rewarding it.

Internally, most of us know the gap between the keynote, the demo, and the actual customer-ready product. Many demos are heavily curated. Many announcements are years ahead of broad deployment. Some things eventually materialize, some never do.

What I’m trying to understand is: does nobody see through it?

Do customers not care? Do analysts not care? Does Wall Street not care?

Because if you look at the earnings, nearly every business was flat or down. The one area showing meaningful growth was traditional networking, largely riding the AI infrastructure wave.

So is the lesson that storytelling matters more than shipping? That perception creates enough momentum to buy time until reality catches up?

Or is this simply how every large technology company operates and I’ve been naive enough to think customers differentiate between what exists today and what might exist someday?

Dan here. Announcing our 2026 strategy: We’re looking to globally engage end to end catalyst for change by intrinsically productizing cross-cultural channels and competently expediting seamless alignments. Artificial Intelligence. We want to rapidly create advanced dynamic customer experiences and compellingly scale user centric stories. Artificial intelligence. We’re going to be uniquely targeting low risk, yet high yield web readiness. Our exploratory research points to deconstructive relative contingencies, and now is the time to revamp and reboot our holistic asset projections, with our interactive 3rd generation paradigm shifts. Artificial intelligence. I’m sure we can make a window here to really discuss with our customers holistic, monitored innovations. Artificial intelligence.
And now’s the time to chart this opportunity and take the company forward. By now, you should be clear on the vision and purpose of the business. With this strategy and artificial intelligence, we will increase our targets 10x. Play to win. Artificial intelligence. All gas, no brakes. Artificial intelligence. Go team. AI.

Has anyone else noticed that Joe Parks came from Pizza Hut (technically the IT affiliate) and when he was there he oversaw the implementation of AI. In May 2026 a NY franchise owner opened a $100M lawsuit against Pizza Hut because they forced AI to be used and it was a disaster. Service tanked and sales dropped. Ironically Joe left them 6 or so months before the lawsuit. Hmmmm seems to me like he might have had a feeling something ugly was coming.

Now my real concern is the same exact thing is happening at SF. I work in ET and I can confirm 100% that the use of AI is getting crammed down our throats. We are being monitored to see how often we use it (being encouraged it should be daily) and leadership is pushing hard for use cases that make no sense. Sounds like Pizza Hut 2.0

Many companies who totally dependent on AI are realizing the true value of employees. Dan is doing continues layoffs just like anything... AI is much much costlier.

The post below the line of === recently appeared on a Telstra executive's LinkedIn account. It was also covered by the Australian Financial Review in an article by Media, marketing and telecommunications reporter Sam Buckingham Jones.

As a former Telstra Principal Technical Officer with 4 decades of experience in the network maintenance and implementation field, I find this 'restart' approach extremely disturbing. It fixes nothing and may have the potential to interrupt traffic to triple-zero 'emergency' calls. (That is - calls to police, fire & ambulance).

Such interruptions have previously been linked to the death of people.

How many times will Telstra merely restart equipment before actually fixing the real fault ?

If equipment requires repeated restart to clear faults, then the network owner should really be placing more scrutiny on their vendors and demanding a real fix.

Network operators should focus on quality of service, rather than just 'clearing' equipment alarms to improve KPIs. Network alarms are raised for a reason. - To notify of problems.

Fix the faults. - Don't just clear alarms to improve your statistics.

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
Turns out, our network already has🤖🔁🔧

Telstra's SmartFix 🤖 is one of those AI capabilities that’s quietly been working in the background for years to make things better for our customers.

SmartFix uses smart telemetry from across the network 📡 to spot common issues early and, where it can, fix them automatically - sometimes by restarting equipment before a customer even realises there’s a problem.
✅ Fewer faults
⚡ Faster fixes
🙂 Less friction

This is AI doing real work, not demos or hype. And it’s a great example of our Network as a Product strategy in action - using data, software and automation to make the network itself smarter, more adaptive and more valuable 🔧📈.

We’ve been applying AI like this for a long time, embedded deep in how the network operates, with a simple goal:
👉 more reliable connectivity
👉 better experiences
👉 every day

Read this: https://wccftech.com/verizon-replacing-humans-with-ai-for-live-chat-is-lowering-response-quality/amp/

Glad InfoSys and Accenture are so talented at building AI solutions for our customers. Not to mention our awesome and talented Verizon India teams and GTS leaders. Let’s keep spending Billions to make our customers hate us and AI more than they already do!

Because isolated C suite (sycophants for slick consulting salesman) clowns have no idea what tech really is, even if they are tech C suite. They are spending million on tech they have never seen, haven't touched, and have only read about or seen a sterile lab environment proof of concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3JHuoLD468

Here is a polished, punchy version of your post that keeps the aggressive, anti-AI edge and focuses entirely on the economic strategy to break the system:

If you genuinely hate AI, now is the time to band together and ensure it never becomes permanently embedded in your work life.
The strategy is simple: Use Copilot for anything and everything, no matter how small.

Why? Because right now, the costs are heavily subsidized. GitHub has already started shifting toward metered billing, meaning every single prompt costs tons of tokens. By this time next year, full-blown model access will be completely unsustainable for corporate budgets because of how expensive it actually is to run.

We are already starting to see Copilot throw "too busy to respond" errors. Keep pushing it. Keep up the volume. The current pricing model is a house of cards, and if we maximize consumption, the technology becomes completely unfeasible to maintain at the rate we're paying.

PS: this post was generated using Kroger copilot. Fire me

This week started my teams AI usage. It only does one part of our work so far and it needs some fixes. But I think this is the end lol. CRIU- when will we be let go? Any guesses?

JPMorgan Chase is managing its workforce evolution in response to artificial intelligence. The bank plans to rely on natural attrition rather than implementing layoffs. CEO Jamie Dimon anticipates AI will eventually reduce the total number of jobs. The company intends to hire more AI specialists and fewer traditional bankers. This strategy allows for retraining and redeploying existing employees through natural turnover.

https://aimagazine.com/news/jpmorgans-workforce-strategy-attrition-over-layoffs

Alphabet shares declined after reports of job cuts. The company reduced positions within its cloud unit. This move aligns with reinvesting in AI growth areas. Some cloud workers and Google's Threat Intelligence Group members were affected. Alphabet regularly reviews internal structures to meet industry needs.

https://www.tradingview.com/news/gurufocus:0bbfb903f094b:0-alphabet-stock-slides-after-report-reveals-cloud-division-layoffs/

Last week my tram was told that they are monitoring our AI usage and those that are not using it at are risk. We were shown a dashboard that tracks general ChatGPT usage and Codex usage.

This week an email comes out instructing us on the proper use of AI, which model to select based on usage cost.

So wait, you want us to use it but in the same breath you are worried about the usage cost?

Id--ts

Not like management has hands on experience in telecom but this guy is trying to ride the AI hype train so hard it’s embarrassing. Very clear he has no idea what he’s talking about. When is the board going to do something about him?

After accepting a job at Optum, be sure to have a solid exit plan within 12 months. This is about how long it will take them to decide to replace you.

Pattern: Hire, layoff, replace, repeat.

Other pattern: Hire, layoff, AI, ??!?

Restructuring is constant. It does not matter if you are a high performer. They hire a consulting firm to evaluate demographics of employees when conducting layoffs to prevent discrimination lawsuits. May the odds be ever in your favor.

I have a PhD for 20 years now and most of my papers are in AI. I worked for 5 years at Fiserv as a product director before I left! This lady keeps referring to AI, but she is simply talking about workflow and automation. This is not AI. Can someone please educated her? Is she just another Gibbons?

Every team is now building their own AI Agents. it's chaos.

The pencil pushers have recently discovered that tokens cost money. Now they are getting rationed. We are only halfway through the year too. lmao. productivity!!!

How secure are you in your job ?
My day to day has been completely replaced with codegen.
Everything from coding, reviewing and analysis.
I havent used my brain in months, everything is done by AI.
Its a blessing and a curse.

As soon as they can resolve the issue with accountability, you will be made redundant and unemployable.

What is your exit strategy ?

We are told we are an AI first company.

Now we are being told not to use it too much as it's costing too much money!

Anthropic - " AI is moving to fast"

Meanwhile RV confuses jumping off a cliff with flying.

Updated - F, 6/5/26.

The purpose of AI -

• To enhance (Productivity), (Efficiency); and to provide (Cost-savings).

• Employees are a line-item expense due to (Cost of Salary, and Benefits) from a business viewpoint.

  These are the facts.

Snowflake's CIO made a notable statement. He indicated using layoffs as a strategy. This was to persuade employees to utilize AI. The company aims for increased AI adoption. This move highlights a focus on technological integration.

https://www.theinformation.com/newsletters/applied-ai/snowflake-cio-says-used-layoffs-convince-staff-use-ai

“Hi losers I want you to return to the office (I won’t be going in because that’s for wage jockies like you), also work even harder (I won’t be paying you more lol). Let me explain to you what AI is (even though I have no experience in it)”

When did CVS start using HireVue for prescreening?
For anyone lucky enough not to know, it’s where you record yourself answering interview questions while an AI quietly judges you. Essentially a corporate Tinder.
This is a director level posting, not a role getting hundreds of entry-level applicants. I’ve been here over 20 years, and I only apply to things I actually care about—not panic-clicking “apply” at midnight. My skills were a great match for the role. I’m also not eager to risk awkwardness with my current manager just to get rejected because I didn’t maintain “optimal eye contact with my webcam.” Its a lateral move so I really need a two-way conversation with HR first to assess compatibility.
I was told it’s mandatory, so I withdrew.
Am I overreacting? Is this just the times? I get it AI is everything now but I feel certain circumstances should not be using this route to weed out candidates. Id love to hear from those who think this is a great idea because I must be missing something and some day I may very well HAVE to use it..

With token pricing increasing dramatically, AI solutions are going to be too expensive. We'll end up using real AI - another Indian.

Exactly this. CEOs are finally realizing that the moment AI stops being subsidized through subscription, its cost becomes way too high to justify. So they'll go back to the previous solution, which will be more outsourcing. Either way, we're the ones getting sc--wed.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/foxconn-announces-strategic-collaboration-with-intel-next-gen-ai-infrastructure-2026-06-04/

The pain will be extreme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtUgWn-nHs

AI will prove to be the biggest scam ever foist upon corporate C suite knuckleheads. It's exposing just how ignorant and feckless all C suite clowns are, they all be-doverfor their consultants and do EXACTLY what they are told by these equally as evil consultants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtUgWn-nHs

Wendys, Starbucks, Uber, The Big Mouth Mark Benioff, all quietly removing their foots from their mouths and backtracking on AI due to failures and no ROI. AI cant even handle drive though hamburger orders.

Tech CEOs spent the last two years promising AI would replace workers, cut costs, and transform everything. Now they're quietly cancelling data centers, rehiring humans and admitting the math doesn't work. From Microsoft pulling back on billions in infrastructure to Starbucks ki-ling its AI inventory system after it couldn't count milk, Uber burning through a year of AI budget in four months, and one company accidentally spending $500 million on AI tools in a single month the AI hype is hitting reality. Even Sam Altman now says he was wrong about AI replacing jobs.

So...anyone else connecting the dots on why we are now heavily pushing Copilot (and all of M365)? Check out Microsoft's smart badge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw0HBKJlX-w) introduced at the Build Conference 2026. Scary stuff coming!

PP is cutting again - this time is massive almost a quarter of all employed. It's going to be about 300 people which in the grand schema of things is not that big but for us at PP it's the biggest round ever - the impacts are massive. JH got her promo, kudos girl, but you are responsible for the mess as much as anyone else. this time they are not blaming it on ai cause by now everyone knows that story is all bs. i shall be back with a rant on RTO and all failed promises the execs sold us over last few years. well done jill.

thanks to AI historical market miscomprehensions around Cisco have turned positive-- how long will it last?

Pennsylvania experienced widespread job losses in early 2026. The state's unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent. Amazon cut nearly 1,000 employees across several counties. Other companies like Vertex, Saks, and Liberty Home Choices also announced significant layoffs. Store closures and AI adoption contributed to these workforce reductions.

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/across-pa/major-store-closures-job-cuts-hit-pa-2026