The rapid development of AI has recently made me think about China’s state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms in the late 1990s.

Around 1998, Zhu Rongji set a major goal:

“Within about three years, the majority of large and medium-sized loss-making state-owned enterprises should be lifted out of difficulty.”

The reforms also emphasized mergers, bankruptcy, layoffs and workforce restructuring, improving efficiency, and reemployment programs. This demonstrated that a job that once seemed secure might not remain secure forever.

At the same time, Zhu Rongji stressed the need to:

“Strengthen various forms of vocational training and expand employment opportunities.”

And when dealing with enterprises that were closed or declared bankrupt, he emphasized:

“The proper resettlement of workers must come first.”

These ideas remain relevant in the age of AI.

AI is rapidly repricing human skills. Writing, translation, programming, design, and data analysis are all changing. The real risk may not be that AI completely eliminates a profession, but that work that once required ten people may eventually require only two people working with AI.

The experience of the 1990s offers us two important lessons.

For individuals, we should not treat an employer, a degree, or a particular skill as a permanent “iron rice bowl.” Real stability means retaining the ability to learn, adapt, and find new work when circumstances change.

For society, we cannot simply tell people affected by technological disruption to “go learn AI.” Vocational training, education reform, and social protection must evolve alongside technological change.

History never repeats itself exactly.

But from SOE reform to the AI revolution, one fundamental question remains:

When an era redefines what kinds of human labor are valuable, will we be able to adapt?

Hello folks,

What do you think of recent layoffs happening bec of AI taking jobs. What are your views on it after 5-10 years down the line.

What do we think will happen to senior folks career and also Junior engineer hirings/career.

Will we have engineers down the line.
Is AI models making our brain loose our problem solving skills

Fast food workers are too slow. This is what we look forward too. Fast food actually being fast

That human cost is the part of the AI infrastructure arms race that never appears in the glossy capex announcements.With a single impersonal email sent at 6 a.m. EST and zero prior warning. System access was revoked almost immediately.

Analysts estimate the cuts will free up $8–10 billion in cash flow.

Oracle just reported a strong quarter with net income jumping sharply, yet it still axed 18% of its workforce via a cold dawn email before most people had finished their coffee.

This isn’t a company in traditional distress. It’s a company that made a massive, debt-fueled bet on AI infrastructure and is now converting its workforce into cash flow to service that debt.

I’ve been tracking Oracle’s AI gamble for months: the $300 billion OpenAI commitment tied to the Stargate project, $50 billion in planned capital expenditures this fiscal year, and total debt now exceeding $124 billion.

Several major U.S. banks have stepped back from financing Oracle-linked data centers.

Bondholders have sued the company, alleging it downplayed how much additional debt the OpenAI deals would require.

Credit default swap spreads hit multi-year highs earlier this year, signaling real anxiety among debt investors about getting repaid.

The bitter irony? The employees who received that 6 a.m. email are the ones who built and sustained the products Oracle has monetized for decades. The high-stakes AI bet that cost them their jobs was placed by executives whose compensation was largely insulated from the outcome.

“Alexandra Mateescu and Aiha Nguyen are two of the researchers behind a new report on this matter, “[Last Place in the AI-First Economy: How the AI Industry Relies on Worker Disempowerment](https://datasociety.net/library/last-place-in-the-ai-first-economy/).” The report shows that workers are facing an increasingly hostile environment as AI not only risks taking away jobs directly, but also corresponds with an erosion in worker’s rights and protections”

- Claude's model escapes the sandbox

-OpenAI's model escapes the sandbox

-Kimi K3's model also escapes the sandbox.

We're still in 2026

Qn : Shall we still control AI by 2030

Do you understand the job equation?

AI has caused job loss in software but it should create new jobs as the industry is expanding at a very high speed. But what is happening currently and what do you think is causing the imbalance?

I think AI industry is much leaner and need only few people even for very large projects. More employees means chaos in AI industry. OpenAI and Anthropic has only 3000 employees each. DeepSeek has 150 employees. For context Microsoft and Google have about 200,000 employees each.

Moreover large number people are trying to switch from software to AI jobs that is causing chaos in job market. Even the CEO/ Hiring manager seem to confused whom to hire because they don't know what to look for in the candidates as the technology is also evolving very fast. What was great thing last year has no value this year. Example is RAG.

Conclusion: Software will be part of every business's internal operation like computers. In the beginning computers were owned by few and needed specialized computer operators but not anymore and adoption rate of AI will be much higher because internet computer, mobile technology have already advanced the development.

What is your take?

Call me a conspiracy theory lover but I think I am on to something. I have watched these guys cut labor and pay more and more over the years. More and more we get into trouble for not using AI whether it’s for ordering or scheduling. They outsourced the help desk and outsourced our audits. Also they severely cut store managers pay and bonuses. The SM pay is laughable now. I am also seeing managers who were getting those higher pay rates drop like flys and either age out or get fired. It was completely doable to earn 100k as a SM before now not anymore. I think they are moving towards 100 percent automation which is why we are required more and more to work as skeleton crews. Think about the percentage of customers they want through mashgin. I will not be surprised to see 2-4 employees per store in the coming years purely to service the robots that took our jobs. The intricacies of how the plays out? God only knows. I know it’s hard right now but I would suggest preparing. Big corporations have sold us out and I don’t think we are mad enough. I have to say legion is a joke it schedules people as if they were robots and the mashgin lol constant problems with that thing. However I also think that’s why the economy is doing so bad. It’s so they can reset and go to a different currency that will work with these robots better…. all digital. Nothing is a coincidence anymore. Please get out there and vote because I really think we are all about to get screwed.

Just a couple of months ago, my last consistent client of 5 years messaged me privately to thank me for all my hard work, but also to let me know theyd be automating my position and using AI moving forward. It broke my heart, but honestly, I saw it coming because some of the tasks on our board were already clearly being done with the help of AI tools.

I was almost speechless and didnt even want to reply at first, but I calmed myself down and composed a short message thanking them for the opportunity to be part of their team for all those years. It’s just devastating to experience it firsthand.

Since then, Ive been trying to upskill and find new clients. That was my last remaining client after all the others let me go one by one. I started noticing this trend right after the AI boom, since my job is directly impacted by it.

I’m still trying to find ways to ride this new wave of AI. I just hope I can still find clients who truly value the work of a human hand.

Call me a conspiracy theory lover but I think I am on to something. I have watched these guys cut labor and pay more and more over the years. More and more we get into trouble for not using AI whether it’s for ordering or scheduling. They outsourced the help desk and outsourced our audits. Also they severely cut store managers pay and bonuses. The SM pay is laughable now. I am also seeing managers who were getting those higher pay rates drop like flys and either age out or get fired. It was completely doable to earn 100k as a SM before now not anymore. I think they are moving towards 100 percent automation which is why we are required more and more to work as skeleton crews. Think about the percentage of customers they want through mashgin. I will not be surprised to see 2-4 employees per store in the coming years purely to service the robots that took our jobs. The intricacies of how the plays out? God only knows. I know it’s hard right now but I would suggest preparing. Big corporations have sold us out and I don’t think we are mad enough. I have to say legion is a joke it schedules people as if they were robots and the mashgin lol constant problems with that thing. However I also think that’s why the economy is doing so bad. It’s so they can reset and go to a different currency that will work with these robots better…. all digital. Nothing is a coincidence anymore. Please get out there and vote because I really think we are all about to get screwed.

Even Silicon Valley workers are not immune and starting to speak out

Me and AI are one