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submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Tech companies are slashing thousands of jobs as they pivot toward AI::Technology companies are axing jobs as they pile deeper into artificial intelligence, with one expert calling it a "sobering signal."

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[-] echo64@lemmy.world 63 points 9 months ago

This isn't a good article and makes bad connections.

The idea is that they are slashing jobs because ai will do everything, and that doesn't hold water. To start with, ai is a burgeoning technology without a solid foundation right now. These people are not being replaced at all, and to take advantage of ai, you need more teams to make more things to find the ai product that actually sticks.

The current layoffs are nothing to do with ai and everything to do with shareholders. High interest rates coupled with the post pandemic growth falloffs mean that shareholders aren't seeing value in tech shares like they used to. So, the executive teams are laying off workers to raise shares.

[-] galoisghost@aussie.zone 25 points 9 months ago

Yes and it’s exactly the sort of thing that has happened before and will happen again. In fact it is so likely that you could probably create an CEO AI that starts firing or hiring depending on market conditions and give the bonuses to the workers instead.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 14 points 9 months ago

companies everywhere are slashing jobs to keep wages down. they are working with the fed to bring down "inflation" (which in their minds is increasing wages). The government, the companies in question, and the wonderful 'news' sources we have all work together to ensure we stay hungry. otherwise we might ask for shit.

[-] autotldr 2 points 9 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


SAP is the latest big tech player to cut jobs as it pours money into AI, with the German software giant announcing this week that it is investing more than $2 billion to integrate artificial intelligence into its business as part of what it called "transformation program."

And language learning platform Duolingo acknowledged a 10% reduction in its contractor workforce at the end of 2023, but denied that all of the cuts were related to increased AI usage.

Columbia University business professor Oded Netzer cautioned against linking rising corporate investment in AI to worker layoffs.

In Netzer's view, companies are simply doing what they typically do — hiring more workers that specialize in fast-growing parts of the business, while laying off those whose skills may be less useful or contribute less to revenue growth.

Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told CBS MoneyWatch that AI tools are not yet sophisticated enough to replace workers entirely.

"They are rebalancing after the huge hiring burst we saw couple years back during the pandemic when people were at home, consuming more tech products than they normally would have," Stahle said.


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this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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