Companies are lying about AI
In a Nutshell
Jack Dorsey's Block is laying off 40% of its workforce (from 13,000 to 6,000), vaguely citing "intelligence tools" (implying AI) as the reason, sparking a 23% after-hours stock surge and signaling a tech trend of shrinking teams for productivity gains, akin to Elon Musk's 80% Twitter cuts that revitalized X. This isn't an "AI pandemic" replacing humans—it's short-term experimentation amid capitalism's hire-fire cycles, with AI enabling humans to build vastly more software faster to meet infinite demand, ushering in a renaissance rather than decline. Long-term, software demand explodes as AI accelerates development from archaic paces to traversing an endless backlog, eating the universe with more people and tools integrated optimally.
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Jack Dorsey's Block (formerly Square), which makes cash registers that make everyone uncomfortable when the cashier says there's a question for you on the screen, released a memo reducing the organization from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. That means 4,000 employees are being asked to leave. The memo says one word about why: 'We're already seeing that the intelligence tools we're creating'—no mention of AI, just 'intelligence tools.' Block is not training their own models paired with smaller and flatter teams.
This is the key unlock for companies when they are stuck. Shrinking teams makes them more productive—it's paradoxical but true. When you want to go fast, shrink your teams. When you want to grow, headcount. A lot of people are saying this is the AI pandemic. Balaji, who called the COVID pandemic early, is running the same play: 'This is the first AI cut and it will send shock waves.'
Jack Dorsey created Twitter, which was trash and stagnant with unwavering stock for over a decade. Elon Musk fired 80% of employees, and now X's algorithm is almost TikTok quality, homing in on interests, with creator payouts—all with 80% fewer employees. Jack cutting 40% headcount signals to tech: get good, become indispensable, work nights and weekends, learn AI tools, outsource work, raise your game or you might not make the cut as an employee or company.
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