first block falls
The apocalypse of AI jobs is no longer a hypothesis.
Block CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey has broken up the fintech company and restructured the organization into a smaller, flatter team built to move quickly and embrace what he calls “new ways of working.”
He said this frankly: “We’re not making this decision because we have a problem.”
That’s what’s upsetting white-collar corporate America as a whole. If Dorsey’s actions were not about survival, what were they? And what are they? It’s also meaningful to others.?
Anxiety is increasing as AI becomes more widespread. People are wondering what it means for their jobs.
Technology has been in the hardcore era for a while now. Companies have been able to make the most of their efforts through gradual layoffs, but have largely avoided large-scale layoffs. And they rarely condemn AI outright.
Dorsey did both. He cut the company’s workforce by almost half, from more than 10,000 to just under 6,000. And he made his strategy clear. “We’re going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do.”
A Block Data analyst who was just laid off said he now understands how AI is automating his job and how it will ultimately cost him his job. “It was definitely an ‘oh’ moment when I realized how powerful things had become,” he said in an interview with Business Insider.
Wall Street rewarded Mr. Dorsey’s move, with Block shares rising 17% on Friday.
Investors and analysts say this could be a turning point and a floodgate for other companies to take similar approaches.
“This is the first AI cut, and it will be shocking,” Balaji Srinivasan, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, said in a post on X.
Block’s layoffs, Srinivasan said, “are a signal to everyone in technology: step up now and be indispensable. Work nights and weekends, learn AI tools, level up. If you don’t, you may not win that spot as an employee or as a company.”
To be sure, many are skeptical of Dorsey’s reasoning. As Dan Defrancesco wrote on Friday, perhaps Dorsey is using AI as a cover. The company has overhired during the coronavirus pandemic, and Dorsey acknowledged that. The company’s stock price (even including Friday’s big rally) is well below its pandemic peak.
However, the details are not as important as the atmosphere that the cut gives off.
AI CEO Matt Schumer, who wrote a viral essay a few weeks ago, “Something Big is Happening,” said this is “one of the first big examples of AI driving layoffs, but it certainly won’t be the last.”
“If you’re saying, ‘That won’t happen to me,’ reevaluate your thoughts. Now.” he wrote. “It may be the most important thing you do.”
Do you think this is the beginning of the AI employment apocalypse? Send your opinion to srussolillo@businessinsider.com.
