- AI-related layoffs are accelerating across industries, affecting knowledge workers from entry-level to leadership roles.
- Simplice Fosso, a Head of Security Operations, lost his job after his team's threat detection duties were automated.
- At first, companies talked about “upskilling analysts,” but shifted to “efficiency gains” before cutting jobs.
- Fosso said: “I oscillated between relief and self-doubt… a wake-up call to pivot.”
- Companies like Microsoft, Duolingo, Walmart, and Accenture are reducing headcount due to AI efficiencies.
- Many layoffs aren’t publicized — they're happening quietly via unposted jobs and silent Slack channels.
- Roles like copywriters, web designers, and even some executive positions are being cut or frozen.
- Behavioral scientist Sekoul Krastev said AI layoffs feel worse than human replacement:
“You’re being replaced by something better… in a way that you can’t achieve.”
- AI advances are outpacing workers’ ability to adapt:
“It’s a lot more difficult to compete with something evolving so quickly.”
- Being replaced by AI causes deeper emotional discomfort than being replaced by another person.
- Anne Glaberson, a 20-year tech veteran at GoDaddy, was laid off despite strong performance metrics.
- She said, “You think it won’t affect you. But it did.”
- The reorg disproportionately affected women and older employees, she noted.
- The decision came abruptly: “I just got pulled into a call with the president… am I getting laid off?”
- Glaberson described the market as “absolutely flooded” with low-paying jobs:
> “A recipe for poverty and misery.”
- She later founded a startup focused on AI — reflecting a trend of laid-off workers pivoting into AI roles.
- Mark Quinn, laid off from a healthcare tech company, retrained himself with GPT tools.
- He built “Job Hunt GPT” to rewrite his resume and prep for interviews, which helped land his next job.
- Quinn now uses AI for everything from work to bedtime stories:
> “It’s not a box. It’s a collaborator.”
- A data scientist recognized a laid-off worker they helped automate — now delivering food:
“Once you’ve had DoorDash delivered by someone whose job you helped eliminate… feels bad, man.”
https://qz.com/ai-layoffs-jobs-microsoft-walmart-tech-workers-1851782194