Excuse is only half the story. I don't fully understand why they are doing it though. Companies hire people to make money, not as an act of social conformance.

Global economy doesn't look that terrible. Nor is the AI story that believable. Is it just the CEO Zeitgeist? All the guys at Aspen talking about what fraction they cut, just as 5 years ago they bragged how bloated their org chart is?

TBH the "ZIRP overhiring" seems like the most likely real reason. I could never understand how all these companies could hire so many people for so much money, only to have them work on later-to-be-canned open source projects.

But if that's really it, no idea.

10 days later: Amazon to hire 16 000 new workers in its new remote Indian campus

“Overhiring during the pandemic” was a common, senseless, catchphrase a few years ago.

yeah. pretending to innovate rather than just shed ZIRP-era deadweight. like IBM laid off a few thousand "due to AI" in 2023, lol.

In this case, there might be some truth to the statement.

Not in the sense that AI is replacing current jobs, but that they would rather invest that money in Anthropic or on Data Center buildouts

Economic headwinds are rarely used. There is always something else they blame it on. It has been this way for the 30 years I've been old enough to pay attention - and those older than me report it has been even longer. There are downturns every few years, in turn meaning layoffs - and they always blame something other than the downturn.

They also always claim the layoff will enable more efficiency.

They're increasingly intertwined these days, so it's not much of a lie

AI is the perfect scapegoat.

Insurance providers are also doing it.

AI is also used in the legal space too.