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Submission + - Tech CEOs Suddenly Love Blaming AI For Mass Job Cuts (bbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Sweeping job cuts at Big Tech companies have become an annual tradition. How executives explain those decisions, however, has changed. Out are buzzwords like efficiency, over-hiring, and too many management layers. Today, all explanations stem from artificial intelligence (AI). In recent weeks, giants including Google, Amazon, Meta, as well as smaller firms such as Pinterest and Atlassian, have all announced or warned of plans to shrink their workforce, pointing to developments in AI that they say are allowing their firms to do more with fewer people. [...] But explaining cuts by pointing to advances in AI sounds better than citing cost pressures or a desire to please shareholders, says tech investor Terrence Rohan, who has had a seat on many company boards. "Pointing to AI makes a better blog post," Rohan says. "Or it at least doesn't make you seem as much the bad guy who just wants to cut people for cost-effectiveness."

That does not mean there is no substance behind the words, Rohan added. Some of the companies he's backing are using code that is 25% to 75% AI-generated. That is a sign of the real threat that AI tools for writing code represent to jobs such as software developer, computer engineer and programmer, posts once considered a near-guarantee of highly paid, stable careers. "Some of it is that the narrative is changing, some of it is that we really are starting to see step changes in productivity," Anne Hoecker, a partner at Bain who leads the consultancy's technology practice, says of the recent job cuts. "Leaders more recently are seeing these tools are good enough that you really can do the same amount of work with fundamentally less people."

There is another way that AI is driving job cuts — and it has nothing to do with the technical abilities of coding tools and chatbots. Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft are collectively planning to pour $650 billion into AI in the coming year. As executives hunt for ways to try to ease investor shock at those costs, many are landing on payroll, typically tech firms' single biggest expense. [...] Although the expense of, for example, 30,000 corporate Amazon employees is dwarfed by that company's AI spending plans, firms of this size will now take any opportunity to cut costs, Rohan says. "They're playing a game of inches," Rohan says of cuts at Big Tech firms. "If you can even slightly tune the machine, that is helpful." Hoecker says cutting jobs also signals to stock market investors worried about the "real and huge" cost of AI development that executives are not blithely writing blank cheques. "It shows some discipline," says Hoecker. "Maybe laying off people isn't going to make much of a dent in that bill, but by creating a little bit of cashflow, it helps."

Comment Re:Has Anyone Here Seen It? (Score 5, Interesting) 41

by dskoll (#66068066) Attached to: 'Project Hail Mary': Real Space Science, Real Astrophotography

Yes, I saw it. I also read the book. I preferred the book, but I also enjoyed the movie a lot..

The movie was quite faithful to the book, and even though it was a long movie (over 2.5 hours) it didn't seem long and it moved along quite nicely. The alien creature was pretty much exactly what I had pictured while I was reading the book, and they did a good job imbuing it with personality.

I think the movie was worth seeing in a movie theatre.

Comment fuck them (Score 1) 113

by Tom (#66067722) Attached to: 'Ads Are Popping Up On the Fridge and It Isn't Going Over Well'

They run as a rectangular banner at the bottom â" part of a widget that also shows news, the weather and a calendar.

Don't care. If your shit shows me ads, it's not getting into my kitchen. Note to self: Don't buy appliances from Samsung anymore.

Yes, I am vocal in how much I hate ads. I believe the CEOs of advertising companies should get one hit with a stick for every time their ad bothered someone even in the slightest.

Comment Re:Windows is crashing because? (Score 1) 183

by Tom (#66067718) Attached to: Windows PCs Crash Three Times As Often As Macs, Report Says

Exactly what I'm saying.

The fact that users and enterprise customers are not demanding better software from Microsoft with the same fervor their ancestors demanded that the witch be burnt speaks volumes.

And I'm specifically talking about operating systems here. Software can crash for all I care. I'm fine software quality being all over the place, the market can sort that out. But operating systems are natural monopolies and the foundation for everything else. We should not accept shoddy quality there.

Comment Will, not could, come to the USA (Score 4, Interesting) 92

A large number of states, including California, Colorado, Illinois and New York, have already passed or are passing stupid device age-attestation laws like this one. These laws purport to apply to just about any OS on any general-purpose computing device, if the device is capable of downloading software. If the laws are not fought, it means open-source is in trouble and mass surveillance will become the norm.

Comment I don't agree with age verification (Score 5, Insightful) 169

I am strongly opposed to age verification.

However, given that the developer faced (according to the article) "harassment, doxxing, death threats, and a flood of hate mail", maybe we need some form of maturity verification? There's no call for that sort of crap. And I really hope that criminal charges are filed against anyone sending death threats.

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