Miranda Boyden’s Post

The tech industry has faced tough times recently, with massive layoffs shaking our confidence. This has been a wake-up call for many, reminding us that job security can be fleeting. But as we navigate these challenges, there's a sense of hope. The industry is showing signs of recovery, especially with the rise of generative AI. Discover more about this evolving landscape and what it means for the future of tech: https://lnkd.in/g82V5rut #TechCommunity #generativeai #layout #ai

Source: Business Insider From the article: "Dan Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC that redundancies would likely continue throughout the year, primarily as companies pivot their focus to spending on the AI sector. For example, bringing in new AI talent is expensive and increasingly competitive. "While we'll inevitably see AI more frequently used among tech companies, we should be wary of it being used as a scapegoat for layoffs when other, more familiar factors could also play their part." My take away from this is article is while AI many be be directly involved with the current trend in layoffs, it does seem employers are repositioning themselves to move towards AI, so they will still need engineers, and support staff to develop AI. This also opens the doors for enterprising tech folk to take advantage of the new and yet to be seen opportunities which AI will provide. #TechSector #Layoffs #AI

Layoffs surged by 98% in 2023, affecting sectors like #tech, retail, and healthcare due to economic downturns and #AI impact. How can we #upskill and redeploy our #workforce for resilience amid AI advancements? Learn more on this Forbes article by Sherzod Odilov. https://hubs.ly/Q02jN4py0

Fears about AI leading to job cuts are increasingly common, especially as everyday usage of the technology grows. Several reports have indicated that the tech would, or already is, impact the labor force. However, there's little evidence to show that AI is driving mass cuts in the industry. #layoffs #techindustry #artificialintelligence #business #technology

Another day, another post about AI. If you listen to Sam Altman about job layoffs in Big Tech (we'll restrict it to tech for simplicity), he'll tell you that however much AI increases the efficiency of each worker, Big Tech will just innovate that much more so their demand for labor is the same. This seems a little optimistic to me, but there might be a realistic alternative that has better outcomes across the board. According to Altman's view of the world, what we should see in the coming years is that Tech companies will preform layoffs. Let's say AI doubles the efficiency of each worker, so each company lays off half their employees because they realize that they can accomplish the same goals with half the people. Then other companies, in an optimistic view, instead of laying off people just double the number of innovations they're working on and don't have to fire anyone. So then every other Tech company is pressured to innovate just as fast, so they hire back everyone they fired. The fundamental question to ask here is what's the limiting agent in the tech sector? Is it the number of ideas to work on or how fast those ideas get realized? My estimate would be that companies are more constrained by ideas than anything else. Afterall, if Google had more ideas than money then they would just hire more people to fulfill their ideas. I think many big companies have more money than ideas, or, alternatively, more money than pressure to create ideas. That's a bad thing. If companies are capped by ideas rather than by productive output that's a reason for layoffs. So what should the world do? Well, basically, I think if tech workers are smart they'll unionize and they'll have a good argument if they do. The unions should argue that their workers get a 5 hour work day, get paid the same amount in that 5 hours as they would for 8 hours of work, and that none of them should be layed off. That, of course, sounds absurd, but I think it's a legitimately possible future. Here's why: 1. The 8 hour work day was arbitrary to begin with, and actually companies will be paying their employees 8 hours worth of salary for 10 hours worth of productive output (5 hours times twice the efficiency). So it's still a great deal for companies. 2. The 2-3 hours at the end of the work day are when a lot of workers are burned out and less productive anyways, so it's really just a matter of trimming the fat. 3. If the rate of growth of these companies is really capped by innovation, than they'll want to hire more people anyways, because they'll want as many unique perspectives as possible. Plus, it's not like people stop thinking when they aren't explicitly working. 4. Workers might generate even more ideas because they're less burned out. Ideally it even leads to workers spending more time thinking about the big picture, which is probably a good thing, because even those micro-directional choices in how a goal gets accomplished are extremely important.

Well-known marketing professor and media impresario Scott Galloway has a theory as to what’s behind the layoffs: AI. The catch is many executives are hesitant to admit they’re laying off employees with the intent of replacing their jobs with artificial intelligence. "My thesis is that firms (notably tech companies) have also discovered a weight loss drug and are also being coy about it,” Galloway writes on his blog No Malice, No Mercy. "Recent financial news features two stories: layoffs and record profits. These are related.” My thoughts are that AI is and has already contribute to job attrition it's going to be another issue how companies are willing to convey that message.

4 out of the 5 big tech companies have been slashing roles in some departments this year. The reasons behind these waves of layoffs have been cited as “restructuring”, often related to AI investment. Tech companies are pulling money from some areas in order to invest in the expected long-term success AI development will bring. What do these layoffs mean, if anything, for the future of the tech workforce? - - - #AI #artificialintelligence #googlelayoffs #bigtech

Big tech companies are pointing to a renewed focus on AI as a justification for layoffs. Why it matters: The new trend in tech company layoffs could … https://lnkd.in/duV83d37 #tech #innovation #emerginghumanity

Source: Fortune From the article: "All that new focus on AI does mean the few people with expertise in the field will be in high demand. Companies will be eager to hire these people, and many of the tech companies already have, but the trend is starting to proliferate in other sectors across corporate America." #TechSector #Layoffs #AI #AIExpertise #Employment

Here's a great article from The Hill regarding the spate of layoffs in the tech sector. While the article does list AI as one of the reasons for tech sector layoffs, according to the article AI is not the only reason. Read the entire article to gain further insight as to what is going on with tech sector lay offs, and to take away some hope from summary at the end of the article. #TechSector #Layoffs, #AI #InterestRates #Hope