Silicon Valley confronts fears that AI could displace jobs as layoffs rise

At HumanX, a four-day technology conference in San Francisco drawing about 6,500 investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders, the mood at the entrance is set by a banner reading: “Stop Hiring Humans.” On the main stage, May Habib, CEO of AI writing platform Writer, said Fortune 500 leaders are experiencing a “collective panic” ahead of the AI wave.

Layoffs tied to AI announcements

The fear is not unfounded, according to the conference discussion. More companies are explicitly mentioning AI when announcing job cuts. Salesforce, for example, laid off 4,000 customer-support staff and said AI now handles 50% of the unit’s workload.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block, also announced plans to cut nearly half the company’s workforce, citing “intelligent tools” that have changed how the business operates.

“AI-washing” and alternative explanations

Not everyone agrees that AI is the primary driver of these decisions. Some economists argue that firms may be using AI as a pretext for layoffs that actually reflect earlier over-hiring or broader cost-cutting ahead of investments in technology infrastructure.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, previously described this as “AI-washing,” branding something as AI to justify or improve optics. Speakers at HumanX echoed that view, arguing that AI can serve as a convenient excuse to cut jobs even as companies forecast major change ahead.

Forecasts for work and skills

Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services, said AI will “change every company, every job, and every way humans work.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had similarly framed the end goal as making “no one left to program.”

Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearning.AI, pushed back on the idea that programming is becoming obsolete, arguing that AI makes it easier for more people to access the skill rather than eliminating the need for it.

Greg Hart, CEO of Coursera, said a different skill mix may emerge as AI takes on more technical tasks. “When AI can do more tasks, the differentiating factor for an employee will be human skills — critical thinking, communication, and teamwork,” he said. He added that enrollments in critical-thinking courses tripled in the past year.

Florian Douetteau, CEO of Dataiku, suggested that the core human value is “the ability to judge.” He described a model in which AI works through the night, humans verify results in the morning, and the system continues operating during the day. He also cautioned that “we will have a generation that has never written anything from start to finish in their life,” calling it “quite worrying.”

Hiring data and risks for younger workers

Optimistic forecasts may be harder for younger workers to realize, particularly when they struggle to land their first jobs. The article notes that AI has automated many input tasks that previously supported workplace onboarding.

SignalFire’s research found that hiring applicants with under one year of experience at major US tech firms fell by 50% between 2019 and 2024.

Policy warnings and transition planning

Former US Vice President Al Gore warned that job losses could extend across many intellectually demanding occupations. He urged concrete action plans to identify threatened occupations and help workers transition, arguing that failing to prepare would repeat mistakes made during the offshoring wave after production moved abroad in the 2000s.

“To me, the mistake is not globalization. The mistake is that we did not prepare for its consequences,” he said. He also noted that many people avoid the discussion because they fear it could dampen enthusiasm for AI technology.

Impact on labor markets

The conference discussion framed AI as a potential productivity unlock for businesses while also forcing deep structural restructuring in the labor market. With “Stop Hiring Humans” moving from shock slogan toward a recurring theme, the debate over jobs in the AI era may be only beginning.