Re: "because they needed to free funds for building data centers."

Yes, for some co's that's certainly the case. But it's not because "bots took jobs", but rather "bots need funds".

Correction: "laid off"

I was hoping at the bottom of the article it would say that Professor Utonium accidentally added Chemical X.

The fines should be proportional to actual damage caused (ie: 100% coverage of any interest on loans, any extra spending the person needed to do in consequence, loss of compound interest, damage to credit rating along with any additional spending this resulted in, and any medical costs that can reasonably be attributed to stress/anxiety). It would be difficult to get an exact figure per person, but a rough estimate of probable actual damage would be sufficient. Add that to the total direct loss - not the money that went through any individual involved, and THEN double that total. This becomes the minimum, not the maximum. You then allow the jury to factor in emotional costs on top of that.

In such cases as this, the statutary upper limit on fines should not apply. SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that laws and the Constitution can have reasonable exceptions and this would seem to qualify.

If a person has died in the meantime, where the death certificate indicates a cause of death that is medically associated with anxiety or depression, each person invovled should also be charged with manslaughter per such case.

Almost nobody actually laid of employees because of AI, that was just an excuse to downsize in slow markets. If sales were growing, the same number of employees could do more work via bots such that they wouldn't actually reduce head-count. The proper business move under gained efficiency in a normal economy is to chase market share, not lay off.

I suggest:

First offence: Have to watch CSPAN for 5 hours a day, for a week, without sleeping through it - evidence to be provided in court

Second offence: Have to sing Miley Cyrus songs and Baby Shark on TikTok - sober

Third offence: License to practice and all memberships of country clubs and golf courses revoked

Smells like ... recession.

(But finally I can buy PC parts.)

with the Iran war, [Trump has inadvertently] done as much for renewables as EV subsidies ever did !

Maybe God does work in mysterious ways. I thought She sent him as a substitute for a locusts to punish us for mistreating the planet, but maybe Don's dual-purpose. She's good!

"It looks like you're trying to pull an Apollo 13, would you like some help with that?"

"My God, it's full of bugs!"

They tried that with Apollo 13. And.... that actually did work, sorta.

"Star-North", solved!

Bots can't test the newfangled space-toilet.

Some slob had a double salami sandwich just before launch.

Donald has repeatedly claimed climate change is a hoax, and his cult believes him.