AI Is Not Replacing Jobs. Your Boss Is!

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You keep hearing it. “AI is replacing jobs”, “automation is inevitable”, “we have to adapt or die.” It sounds dramatic and convincing. But for most workers, AI did not kill your job your boss did. AI is simply the newest, shiniest explanation to cover up something older and more predictable. Cost cutting, shareholder pressure, and a corporate structure that treats labor as disposable.

Because once a corporation masters a storyline once they convince the public that “this time it is different” they do not even need to justify anything.

The layoffs start. The headlines follow. And the blame gets placed anywhere except where it belongs. Management decisions.

WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING: CORPORATIONS ALWAYS NEED A SCAPEGOAT

Every decade gets a new villain.
The pattern is so consistent it is almost boring at this point.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s the big excuse was offshoring.
Outsource the job to cheaper labor markets. Save millions. Blame “globalization.”

Then the 2020 pandemic hit. Suddenly the reason was COVID disruptions. Entire departments were wiped out even as some companies quietly recorded record revenue.

Now it is AI. And the cycle continues.

A 2025 CBS News analysis showed that companies laid off nearly one million workers this year despite record profits, with many citing AI as the justification.
Source: CBS News “Corporate profits are soaring so why are companies laying off workers?”

This is not new behavior. It is just a new costume.

Efficiency and Profit Over People History Does Not Lie

Corporate America has never been shy about prioritizing efficiency over humanity.
It is built into the model.

Take the mass layoffs in tech after 2022. Many of those companies had record breaking revenue the year before cutting thousands of workers. Instead of reinvesting in workers they redirected funds to stock buybacks and “future tech investments”.

A 2025 Fortune report revealed that many so called AI layoffs were actually cost cutting measures disguised as innovation, noting that companies “use AI as branding to justify restructuring.”
Source: Fortune “Why tech companies keep blaming AI for layoffs.”

This aligns with Bloomberg’s reporting, which found that companies were “blaming AI for layoffs that were actually profit driven,” even when automation had little to do with the eliminated roles.
Source: Bloomberg “Companies Are Blaming AI for Layoffs That Are Actually About Profits.”

Behind every sanitized press release there is usually one truth.
The company wanted to spend less on people.

The Jobless Boom Profits Rise While Workers Disappear

2025 data revealed a disturbing trend.
Companies are experiencing what economists call a jobless boom. The economy is growing. Revenue is rising. Yet jobs are evaporating.

CBS News found that productivity and stock value are increasing while employment drops, noting that many companies performing layoffs were also posting some of their highest earnings ever.
Source: CBS News on the 2025 jobless boom.

This disconnect is not because AI suddenly replaced millions of workers.
It is because leadership chose to shrink labor costs while squeezing more output from fewer people.

Business Insider echoed this in its analysis of big tech, stating that “tech layoffs continue despite record revenues,” and that investors often reward these cuts.
Source: Business Insider “Tech Layoffs Continue Despite Record Revenues.”

The Excuse Cycle Offshoring to Pandemic to AI What Comes Next?

If you map the last 30 years of layoffs you see a pattern so clear it is almost predictable.

1990s to 2000s
Offshoring became the big justification.
Jobs moved overseas and entire industries were gutted.

2010s
Companies blamed global competition and “market volatility.”

2020 to 2022
COVID became the universal scapegoat.
Companies cut hundreds of thousands of jobs while collecting government relief money and posting record earnings.

2023 to now
AI has become the new villain.

The Guardian reported that executives were using AI as a “catch all excuse” for layoffs, even in cases where AI tools had not been implemented yet.
Source: The Guardian “Executives use AI as a catch all excuse for layoffs.”

CNBC added that CEOs admit layoffs are “mostly about costs” even when framed as AI transformation.
Source: CNBC “AI Will Change Jobs but CEOs Admit Layoffs Are Mostly About Costs.”

Every era produces a new excuse.
The root remains the same.
Profit over people.

AI IS NOT THE PROBLEM Capitalism Is

Let’s be honest.
AI can automate tasks but it does not log into HR systems and file mass termination lists.

Humans do that.
CEOs do that.
Boards of directors do that.

AI is a tool.
Layoffs are a choice.

MIT Technology Review found that AI adoption is augmenting more jobs than eliminating, and that layoffs blamed on AI often stem from financial restructuring, not actual automation.
Source: MIT Technology Review “AI Is Not Replacing Jobs at the Scale You Think.”

Harvard Business Review backed this up, stating that layoffs are often ineffective financially, yet companies repeat them because they satisfy shareholder expectations and create the illusion of strategic change.
Source: Harvard Business Review “Layoffs That Don’t Reduce Costs.”

If it were not AI it would be something else.
Offshoring, recessions, pandemics.
There will always be another scapegoat.

Because the root issue is structural not technological.

THE LOOSE TAKE

AI is not replacing workers.
Companies are.

AI did not eliminate your department.
Leadership used AI as the explanation for a financial decision they already wanted to make.

This is not a story about robots taking human jobs.
This is a story about executives protecting profit margins.

The next time a company says “AI made us do it,” look at their earnings report.
If profits are up and workers are out you are not witnessing innovation.
You are witnessing corporate strategy packaged as technological destiny.