The article, written in a first-person account style, argues that the widespread concerns about job losses due to AI are exaggerated. According to the author, many tech companies that laid off workers citing AI as the reason were actually over-hiring during the pandemic, not necessarily displacing human workers with AI. The author cites examples of firms like IBM and Ford rehiring for similar positions after initially making AI-driven layoffs, suggesting that AI's role in job cuts is minimal.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-24,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Are you all in on AI, or are you bracing for an AI-pocalypse?
asserted
you → brace → pocalypse
While Wall Street wagers on skyrocketing profits at artificial intelligence firms and chipmakers alike, regular joes worry about big, noisy, water-hogging data centers – not to mention their jobs.
asserted
joes → skyrocket → centers
Many, no doubt, have been prompting their chatbots to navigate the latest convulsions.
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Many → prompt → convulsions
Yet AI’s future remains largely unknown – even to supposed “experts.”
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future → remain → experts
Take the case of Leopold Aschenbrenner – the 25-year-old “Nostradamus of AI” whose high-flying hedge fund Situational Awareness got laid low by its leveraged bets on a bumpy sector.
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fund → take → sector
That notable casualty notwithstanding, the doom-and-gloom AI “bubble” babbling you hear is broadly bogus, as I explained last December.
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I → hear → ?
Conversely, buying stocks on grandiose AI speculation and recent IPO hype amounts to peak arrogance.
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buying → buy → arrogance
Indeed, with every prospect ceaselessly vetted – whether it’s a headfake, a conundrum or a once-in-a-generation opportunity – knowing something that others don’t is impossible.
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others → vet → something
Stocks pre-
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Stocks → pre → ?
AI cassandras warn of fast, vast and tough-to-stomach changes – among them the widely broadcasted “jobpocalypse.”
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cassandras → warn → them
AI is US businesses’ top cited reason for 2026 layoffs.
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AI → cite → layoffs
This year’s tech job cuts have already surpassed 2025’s full-year total.
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cuts → surpass → total
Oracle is reportedly eyeing firings next month to offset its huge AI infrastructure debt.
uncertain
Oracle → eye → debt
That’s after slashing over 20% of its workforce in its latest fiscal year.
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That → ’ → year
Wrongly supposing that innovation destroys but doesn’t at the same time create – an age-old error.
In 1981, economists widely warned that computers would displace workers in droves.
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computers → suppose → droves
What happened instead?
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What → happen → ?
Jobs changed, workers learned new skills.
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workers → change → skills
Life improved.
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Life → improve → ?
The pattern permeates history – and will continue to do so.
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pattern → permeate → history
Thus far, the evidence shows that AI often spurs retraining and expanded hiring, not mass unemployment.
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AI → show → retraining
Globally, many firms that made AI-driven layoffs are rehiring for similar positions, including IBM and Ford.
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that → make → IBM
They vastly underestimated the value of human judgment and oversight.
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They → underestimate → judgment
Job-cutting tech firms like Jack Dorsey’s Block – which, citing AI, slashed nearly half its workforce in February – had simply over-hired post-pandemic.
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which → cut → pandemic
AI has become a highly convenient scapegoat.
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AI → become → ?
AI will change some industries greatly – others, less so.
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others → change → industries
Can it improve pizza or duct tape?
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it → improve → pizza
It may help streamline logistics for transporting and storing them.
uncertain
It → help → them
Big innovations seldom include either/or scenarios.
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innovations → include → either
Food delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash surged while grocery and restaurant sales kept growing.
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sales → surge → Eats
Big-box stores changed retailing, then came online retail.
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retail → change → retailing
Yet small shops still find niches and thrive.
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shops → find → niches
Optimists also overrate the speed of big change.
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Optimists → overrate → change
First came clunky desktop dial-up.
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up → come → ?
It took decades.
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It → take → decades
These limitations, plus political pushback and chip shortages, will slow rollouts globally.
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limitations → slow → rollouts
Eventually, it will enable young lawyers to ditch rote tasks for more productive work.
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it → enable → work
Eventually, self-driving vehicles will multiply – despite early New York resistance – alleviating truck driver shortages while giving blind and disabled folks previously unfathomable independence.
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vehicles → drive → independence
AI will aid big financials, but replace everyone?
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AI → aid → everyone
Customers don’t just want expertise.
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Customers → want → expertise
They also want responsibility.
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They → want → responsibility
…and 14 more, not listed.
