AI Is the New Layoff Alibi

Companies have learned to say “AI.” Now someone has to ask for proof. Image generated by the author The modern layoff memo has developed a new organ. It used to have the standard parts: regret, gratitude, market conditions, difficult decisions, severance details, and a paragraph about focus. Boilerplate built for lawyers and LinkedIn. Now it has an AI section. A few lines where the company stops sounding like an employer and starts sounding like a machine redesigning itself. Teams will be smaller. Managers will become player-coaches. Individual contributors will be amplified by agents.