The Robot Uprising Didn’t Happen. But Something Worse Did

More than 50,000 tech workers have misplaced their jobs to this point this yr. Asked why, most will say the identical factor: synthetic intelligence.

Not as a result of AI rose up and destroyed their workplaces, however as a result of it assumed lots of their obligations. And AI doesn’t draw a wage.

So far this yr, greater than 50,000 tech staff have misplaced their jobs, and employers say AI instruments are making it simpler to chop employees.

While layoffs started final yr, companies have accelerated the process in 2026 by relying on AI to replace workers in roles resembling software program testing and customer support, in accordance with employers.

The development reveals no indicators of slowing down as firms overhaul their operations to include AI, which might carry out duties with out relaxation or criticism.

There’s one other component to this story. At least one laid off engineer advised me, “I helped practice the AI that changed me.”

Ironic? Yes. According to firm executives, it’s one thing else: the inevitable march of progress.

This just isn’t a one-off factor. Plenty of massive tech firms are embracing automation.

The No. 1 factor is firms try to undertake AI, and so they’re utilizing AI to automate jobs … [Companies are] actually the place they’ll change folks with AI fashions.

Then there are the individuals who don’t assume this can be a enormous deal. Like some economists, who say that that is simply one other industrial revolution, solely this time it’s taking place actually quick and entails plenty of computer systems.

But these new jobs require very totally different expertise, which makes it exhausting for employers and pundits to inform laid-off staff that they need to merely “reskill.”

I talked to some tech workers this week and so they’re feeling each thrilled and terrified about AI. Here’s one developer: “What AI can do is superb. But what’s form of terrifying is how briskly it’s making us pointless.”

The phrase that jumps out there’s “pointless.” For a very long time, working in tech was seen as a positive factor. Now it doesn’t appear that manner in any respect.

Which brings us to the plain query: Now what?

It’s manner too quickly to inform. For now, we’re left with a way of marvel blended with unease. AI isn’t a villain, however it’s disrupting plenty of folks’s lives.

Maybe the difficulty isn’t that machines are taking our jobs. Maybe the difficulty is that we weren’t ready for how briskly they’d do it.

If that is the beginning of a protracted story, that’s scary. But it’s additionally thrilling.

Buckle up.