A Harvard Business Review survey of over 1,000 executives found something that should probably be front-page news: companies aren’t laying off workers because AI replaced them. They’re laying off workers because AI might replace them someday. That’s the deal now. You didn’t lose your job to a machine — you lost it to a PowerPoint slide about a machine.
113,863 workers in tech and adjacent industries are out in 2026 so far. 819 a day. Meanwhile CFOs are privately admitting AI layoffs will run 9x higher than what they’re telling the public. The productivity gains they promised haven’t materialized — Gartner called this out months ago — but the headcount is already gone. The bet has been made and you’re on the wrong side of it.
What kills me is the CIO piece pointing out these moves “aren’t making business sense.” So it’s not even ruthless capitalism optimizing for efficiency. It’s executives firing people to look like they’re optimizing, for shareholders who want to hear “AI-first” on earnings calls. You’re collateral damage in a performance for Wall Street. They’ll probably rehire in two years and call it a “strategic talent reinvestment.” The stock price won’t remember your name.