Written by: TinTinLand

In early 2026, as the industry eagerly immersed itself in the "Shrimp Farming Guide" powered by OpenClaw, becoming a super strong work assistant, a wave of layoffs sweeping from North America to Asia never ceased. In the face of practical business logic, this lobster "claw" has finally reached out to colleagues nearby, cutting off many young people's career dreams. So is AI a booster for rapid professional iteration or an invisible executioner stifling career imagination?

Meta announces a new round of layoffs, closely followed by Crypto

Just two weeks ago, tech giant Meta, which had achieved an annual revenue of $200.966 billion last year, announced plans for a new wave of large-scale layoffs, with proportions reaching up to 20% or even more of the total workforce; on March 19, Crypto.com also announced its layoff plan, affecting approximately 180 employees globally, accounting for 12% of the total workforce. This is the third round of layoffs in the past three to four years, and the reason this time is not a downturn in market conditions but "AI technology application restructuring"…Overseas giants have successively announced layoff plans, but the root cause is no longer the challenging "forced measures" of the economic market; more of the starting point comes from—deploying AI tools to enhance productivity.

Coincidentally, according to a Tech Insider data report, the total number of confirmed layoffs in the global tech industry reached 45,363 in the first quarter of 2026, of which about 9,238 positions are explicitly attributed to AI and automation, accounting for 20.4%. Worryingly, this layoff trend is accelerating, and the total number of layoffs for the year may exceed 260,000. Below is a list of some major companies' layoff situations.

- @Block plans to lay off over 4,000 employees, nearly 50%

- @Gemini has laid off about 30% and is deploying AI tools to enhance productivity.

- @cryptocom has laid off 12% to advance enterprise-level AI transformation.

- Payment tool company Atlassian announced layoffs of 1,600 employees, accounting for 10% of the global workforce.

- @StoryProtocol developer PIPLabs laid off about 10% to shift towards AI intellectual property infrastructure.

- OPLabs will lay off 20 employees to streamline operations and reduce coordination costs.

- @AlgoFoundation will lay off 25%.

- Meta is planning large-scale layoffs, which may affect 20% or more employees.

- @krakenfx_ZH is cutting about 400 employees, accounting for 15%, and restructuring leadership.

- @Consensys laid off 20% due to macroeconomic environment and regulatory uncertainty.

Among them, the controversial fintech company Block, primarily engaged in payment services, announced layoffs of about 4,000 employees in early February, reducing its total workforce from over 10,000 to less than 6,000, a drop of nearly 40%, setting a record for the highest single event of layoffs related to AI. This move has raised anxiety among tech practitioners, "When the situation becomes clear, it ignites the flames of resistance." In response, Block's senior management offered a clear explanation: the layoffs are not because there is no profit to be made, but because AI has made the company no longer need so many people.

The career crisis brought by AI is the urgency of "everything is happening"

This approach is very similar to Salesforce's layoff logic, as Salesforce mentioned when laying off that they wanted to extract people from repetitive tasks and direct them toward AI-related businesses; Block has implemented this action more thoroughly, directly replacing a large number of basic positions with AI, transforming the company into a "AI-centered" streamlined organization. The "great slimming down" experienced by the global tech industry sends an important signal: AI is not only a helper in human life but also a challenger to career survival.

The wave of layoffs caused by the advanced development of AI technology inevitably reminds one of what @mattshumer_ mentioned in a social media article:

The emergence of each new generation of AI models is not only about superior performance but also about a leap in productivity, with updating intervals becoming shorter and shorter,"I rely more and more on AI, interfering less, watching it take over tasks I once thought required expertise."We can all increasingly feel that in the current rapid development of AI beyond expectations, it is no longer a "future conversation" but rather the urgency of "everything is happening, you must understand."

Analyzing the layoff wave: Who exactly has AI replaced?

Undeniably, the rapid development of AI technology is fostering a collective FOMO (fear of missing out) sentiment, and the layoff wave as a "belated correction" of technological development has prompted us to re-examine how individuals should make career choices and transitions. Professionals are starting to consider whether their positions will be merged? Is work on basic assembly lines no longer a viable choice when seeking employment?

Taking North American tech giant Meta as an example, in a 2025 position adjustment optimization list, it mentioned the need to shift from a multi-faceted layout in the metaverse to a breakthrough in super AI, further enhancing key capabilities like supermodel training, multimodal integration, and large model architecture iteration, thus leading to adjustments in the following three business lines:

Withdraw the metaverse business line:VR experience designer from the Oculus studio in Reality Labs, including senior hardware operation positions with over 3 years of experience → Business transformation.

Withdraw the AI infrastructure function line:AI infrastructure operations manager in the technical operations department, due to automated upgrades of computing power scheduling systems → Top talent replacement.

Withdraw the R&D business line:Junior researcher at FAIR lab, focusing on traditional AI algorithms → AI technology replacement.

Jobs that LLM excels at handling are forcing highly replaceable positions toward the edge

The seemingly realistic layoff measures are not limited to Meta. Companies of all sizes across various industries, including Amazon, Microsoft, Pinterest, and Fiverr, are exploring paths to enhance labor efficiency and productivity through "AI washing" while eliminating outdated traditional positions, especially entry-level coding, human resources, customer service roles, which are easily replaceable by AI. So, do you know if the position you are engaged in is also gradually moving toward the edge under the AI wave?

On March 5, the American AI safety company Anthropic officially released a research report "Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence." This report no longer estimates what AI can theoretically do but directly analyzes work scenarios from millions of real AI dialogues, seeing what AI is actually doing.

The report mentioned a ranking list of "exposure indicators" for professions, among which the most significantly impacted by AI include "computer programmers," "customer service representatives," "data entry clerks," "market research analysts and marketing specialists," and other job types closely related to the internet tech industry with a large number of employees.

The important observation points for these professions that AI can replace lie in their task content being highly language-oriented or data-structured, with clear operational boundaries, and a low reliance on physical perception, emotional communication, or on-site decision-making, which highly matches AI technical model capabilities—LLM excels at handling text and data processing tasks with clear rules. However, for occupations reliant on physical operations, real-time perception, and interpersonal interactions, they are temporarily not fully "in the crosshairs" of AI.

Finance, media, logistics, occupations impacted by AI may exceed expectations

In addition to mid-level computer programming roles that once dominated the "high-paying profession" lists, even if you are not in the tech industry, you cannot escape this era's technological wave. If your profession possesses one of the following attributes, then the AI layoff timeline may soon reach this sector:

Standardized Q&A, outbound sales, FAQ answers, fixed processes.

Template-based, bulk production, lacking depth in creativity, easily generated by AI.

Mechanical repetition, standardized operations, visual inspection, fully replaced by robot + AI vision.

Rule review, document generation, process execution, AI can quickly retrieve and compare.

Standardized code, repetitive testing, template-based development, AI can be automatically generated.

Specifically, for instance, the Kingdee AI financial system can automatically complete 85% of accounting processes, and the Big Four accounting firms have used RPA to replace 30% of basic auditing positions, leading to basic accountants/tax preparers/bookkeepers engaged in voucher entry, invoice verification and reconciliation, and filing tax returns using fixed templates being gradually replaced by AI for faster execution. Similarly, Tableau AI can automatically generate 70% of routine reports, indirectly leading to jobs of junior data analysts/data cleaners being quickly substituted by AI for cleaning, labeling, and visualizing data.

Even in creative roles where artistic skills are critical, positions in content creation and creative execution are facing new crises under the rapid rise of tools like Byte's "Lingxi," Jim AI, and Midjourney. The replacement rate for basic copywriters/SEO editors/product detail editors can reach 82%, and basic VI creative tasks such as template posters and promotional flyers commonly handled by graphic designers can also reach around 70%. Any position that does not require deep empathy and has a strong level of structure and standardization has the potential to be gradually replaced by AI, and this replacement is already in progress.

In Tesla's Gigafactory, the automation rate has approached 95%, causing a sudden reduction in demand for assembly and basic quality inspection positions; Foxconn's "dark factory" employs robotic arms and AI vision technology to achieve welding precision of 0.02mm, quickly streamlining processes for standardized parts assembly, repetitive welding, appearance/size inspection, and simple material handling. For these traditional industries, other than complex decision-making, sectors that can be executed by AI achieve far greater cost-performance returns than traditional human labor, which also becomes an important direction for future job adjustments and personnel optimization.

Reshape self-value,rescue "career loss" brought by AI

Anthropic's research report also contains a set of less noticeable numbers: the entry rate for young people aged 22 to 25 in high AI exposure positions has decreased by 14%. In the face of the career transformations and crises brought by the AI wave, young people stepping out of the ivory tower of school are now often greeted by "substitutable" career losses—no one is being pushed out, but the door is no longer open for newcomers. Before they have a chance to become seasoned employees and achieve the goal of "outpacing AI," perhaps we should consider how to leverage current technological thinking to obtain a ticket for the career dividends of the coming years.

The group facing the highest automation risks is exactly the one least familiar with AI.

Therefore, what we need to focus on even more is familiarizing ourselves with AI and mastering AI, accumulating irreplaceable technical skills in professional sectors and job market opportunities.

Emotions and interpersonal insights, AI has algorithms, but people have warmth

AIGC may simulate language in various production processes, but it still cannot truly understand human emotions. It can generate standardized communication scripts but cannot handle complex interpersonal scenarios. Jobs requiring "empathy, listening, and perspective-taking" can be included in career considerations. Positions like psychological counselors, high-end sales, and professional healthcare may still use AI tools to organize consultation records and generate basic advice, but as human beings, they need to cultivate a connection with consumers through empathetic communication and deep guidance, leveraging communication skills in interactive exchanges.

Differentiated thinking expression, showcase human creativity

More and more operators in the internet technology sector deeply feel the threat of AI; however, tools like ChatGPT and Jim AI bring the most benefits by quickly generating drafts, producing images as needed, and adapting to different platforms, streamlining complex creative revision processes. As humans, through massive industry case studies and on-site event organization and execution, we can still distill operational SOPs and methodological insights, catering to the "emotional value" of modern workers, proposing more differentiated creative ideas that AI cannot conceive.

Moving towards high-level strategic planning, core decisions still lie with humans

Currently, AI technology has shown exceptional prowess in data processing and trend analysis; even in seizing opportunities for businesses to expand into new markets, AI can perform trend judgments and suggestions, but the decision-making body still requires humans to assess risks based on company strategy, market conditions, and team situations. Making the right strategic decisions based on data and experience becomes a necessity, and strategic consulting is also worth considering as a career transition and deepening job choice.

A microcosm of the times,how to align the granularity of "AI collaborative coexistence"?

The wave of layoffs in the AI era is merely a reflection of current developments, and the core guiding principle of human career value remains how to cleverly "coexist with AI". Perhaps the essence of this crisis is not elimination but reconstruction and differentiation, as the creativity and replaceability of job positions occur simultaneously.

It eliminates those who can only perform repetitive labor and rewards those who can use AI and possess core competencies. For those caught in "career loss," they are often the type reluctant to change and cling to old skills; AI may not be a "job killer" but rather an efficiency amplifier. Familiarizing oneself with AI, mastering AI, and focusing energies on fields that AI cannot replace may be the best strategy, actively embracing change, and reshaping value amidst change is the core essence.

"If you are at your computer, still working on meeting notes, writing documents, and making PPTs, then you should start to be cautious."

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