The convergence of AI and industry layoffs

Job cuts, downsizing, and managing expectations this is where we are at the moment in various industries, from tech, and game development to even the impact of AI, and plagiarism at learning institutions.

We have been told countless times that AI will be here to aid and support what we do in our day-to-day lives and our careers. However, when you look at the number of layoffs over 2023 and now, literally 20 days into 2024 we are in for a wake-up call on how we might be feeding a monster.

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The folks at Techcrunch reported on just the Tech layoffs, keep in mind many of these are “Tech” personnel who work in the USA only in various industries, which occurred in 2023.

Let’s take a look at the staggering numbers:

• January: 89,554 employees laid off
• February: 40,021 employees laid off
• March: 37,823 employees laid off
• April: 20,014 employees laid off
• May: 14,928 employees laid off
• June: 10,958 employees laid off
• July: 10,589 employees laid off
• August: 9,545 employees laid off
• September: 4,632 employees laid off 
• October: 7,331 employees laid off
• November: 6,956 employees laid off
• December: 7,159 employees laid off

Over 250,000 people were laid off.

You are probably asking why I wrote this piece. I have a key question. Is AI playing a role in fast-tracking the idea of removal from a company? If the management looks at the team and says, this person and the person is redundant? How can we mitigate this so we don’t become a victim of the growth of AI?

Well, I have a way we can slow down the trajectory that we are on, or help someone who might be nervous about their current status as an employee and need to see how they can try and prevent it.

Layoffs with or without AI will happen, mitigate accordingly

You must best prepare for the worst case, you must familiarise yourself with the new AI tech that is out there, spend a day researching what tech or AI (Artificial Intelligence) is out there that could do what I do, and if possible become familiar with it, use it and in many cases, you will learn things about your ability and where you can improve in your day to day that will have your management never question your quality to produce for the company, let’s face it we always must do more than what is available and if you do just that step, you will be well on your way to first understanding your adversary in this case AI.

If you are in a volatile industry like Tech, Game Dev, or the Service industry you will need to get yourself into a great contract with a possible AI clause, I am not saying this is going to be easy but we need to lay the groundwork to keep us level and not unemployed.

I don’t have all the answers, but I know that many people are hurting out there.

Source: TechCrunch