The workers who keep their jobs amid AI layoffs will face extraordinary pressure

August 1, 2025

My latest depressing thought about AI is that with all the pressure to adopt AI and replace employees with automation, the lived experience of many/most remaining employees is likely to get far far worse.

I’m imagining a whole lot of overbearing managers making unreasonable demands and forgoing even the pretense of caring. Late hours, changed deadlines, and a general attitude of,

You’re lucky you even have this job...

Meanwhile, everyone in the company knows there are one or more departments working on how to replace them.

So it’s not just the people who lose their jobs who will be suffering, but the people who still have them.

It’s gonna be a rough 5 to 10 years.