Meta will cut 10% of workforce as company pushes deeper into AI; CNBC, April 23, 2026

 Jonathan Vanian, CNBC; Meta will cut 10% of workforce as company pushes deeper into AI

"Meta plans to lay off 10% of its workforce, equaling about 8,000 jobs, as it continues ramping up investments in artificial intelligence.

The cuts will begin on May 20, and the company is scrapping plans to hire people for 6,000 open roles, according to a Thursday memo to employees. Bloomberg was first to report on the layoffs. 

Meta’s latest round of cuts follows several smaller job reductions that the company said was necessary to to improve efficiency while focusing its efforts on generative AI, where it’s lagged OpenAI, Google and Anthropic."

Thousands of CEOs admit AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago; Fortune, April 19, 2026

  

Sasha Rogelberg

, Fortune; Thousands of CEOs admit AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago

"In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the Information Age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected these new technologies to disrupt workplaces and result in a surge of productivity. Instead, productivity growth slowed, dropping from 2.9% from 1948 to 1973, to 1.1% after 1973."

That Meeting You Hate May Keep A.I. From Stealing Your Job; The New York Times, April 15, 2026

Noam Scheiber, The New York Times ; That Meeting You Hate May Keep A.I. From Stealing Your Job

"Mr. Sirk’s experience, while perhaps extreme, reflects the broader impact of A.I. in the workplace: It is vastly accelerating many of the tasks conducted by white-collar workers, and even replacing some of these tasks altogether. What it can’t automate — at least not yet — are the hard-coded requirements of bureaucracy.

With the help of A.I., white-collar workers can generate far more memos or strategy options than in the past and churn out more product prototypes or software features. But some executive still has to decide which option to greenlight. Workers can gin up many more sales pitches, but they still have to persuade clients to sign on the dotted line.

As A.I. makes the production of knowledge work more and more efficient, the job of presenting, debating, lobbying, arm-twisting, reassuring or just plain selling the work appears to be rising in importance. And the need for those sometimes messy human tasks may limit the number of people A.I. displaces.

“These were always important skills,” said David Deming, an economist who is the dean of Harvard College. “But as the information landscape becomes more saturated, the ability to tell a story out of it — to take a ton of text and turn it into something people want — is more valuable.”"

The three realities of AI; Axios, April 13, 2026

Ina Fried , Axios; The three realities of AI

"Three distinct camps are forming around AI: power users, doubters and resisters.

Why it matters: AI isn't just advancing — it's fragmenting how people see the world.

The big picture: The disconnect is showing up everywhere — from job-loss fears to data center protests to actual violence.

Doubters still see AI as glitchy chatbots and viral fails. They aren't using its full capabilities.

Power users run AI agents around the clock, trading tips on how to automate work and decision-making. 

Resisters understand AI, think they know where it's headed and want no part of it."

As AI pushes students to reconsider majors, universities struggle to adapt; The Hill, April 12, 2026

 LEXI LONAS COCHRAN  , The Hill; As AI pushes students to reconsider majors, universities struggle to adapt

"A recent poll shows AI’s increasing role in how students decide on college majors, creating a rapidly developing situation for universities that are still struggling to determine how the technology will shape higher education. 

The Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2026 State of Higher Education survey found 47 percent of currently enrolled college students have thought about switching majors “a great deal” or a “fair amount” over AI concerns." 

Claude Mythos Is Everyone’s Problem; The Atlantic, April 9, 2026

Matteo Wong , The Atlantic; Claude Mythos Is Everyone’s Problem

What happens when AI can hack everything?

"These companies can or could soon have the capability to launch major cyberattacks, conduct mass surveillance, influence military operations, cause huge swings in financial and labor markets, and reorient global supply chains. In theory, nothing governs these companies other than their own morals and their investors. They are developing the power to upend nations and economies. These are the AI superpowers."

The Guardian view on changes to copyright laws: authors should be protected over big tech; The Guardian, March 13, 2026

 Editorial , The Guardian; The Guardian view on changes to copyright laws: authors should be protected over big tech

"In a scene that might have come from a dystopian novel, books were being stamped with “Human Authored” logos at this week’s London Book Fair. The Society of Authors described its labelling scheme as “an important sticking plaster to protect and promote human creativity in lieu of AI labelled content in the marketplace”.

Visitors to the fair were also being given copies of Don’t Steal This Book, an anthology of about 10,000 writers including Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro, Malorie Blackman, Jeanette Winterson and Richard Osman, in which the pages are completely blank. The back cover states: “The UK government must not legalise book theft to benefit AI companies.” The message is clear: writers have had enough.

The fair comes the week before the government is due to deliver its progress report on AI and copyright, after proposals for a relaxation of existing laws caused outrage last year. Philippa Gregory, the novelist, described the plans for an “opt-out” policy, which puts the onus on writers to refuse permission for their work to be trawled, as akin to putting a sign on your front door asking burglars to pass by...

A House of Lords report published last week lays out two possible futures: one in which the UK “becomes a world-leading home for responsible, legalised artificial intelligence (AI) development” and another in which it continues “to drift towards tacit acceptance of large-scale, unlicensed use of creative content”. One scenario protects UK artists, the other benefits global tech companies. To avoid a world of empty content, the choice is clear."

An Ohio newspaper has a new star writer. It isn’t human.; The Washington Post, March 1, 2026

Will Oremus

 and 

Scott Nover

, The Washington Post; An Ohio newspaper has a new star writer. It isn’t human.

At the 184-year-old Cleveland Plain Dealer, a top editor’s push to let AI draft news articles is boosting traffic — and spooking staffers.

"The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s largest newspaper, has begun to feature a new byline. On recent articles about an ice carving festival, a medical research discovery and a roaming pack of chicken-slaying dogs, a reporter’s name is paired with the words “Advance Local Express Desk.” It means: This article was drafted by artificial intelligence."

Microsoft AI CEO predicts 'most, if not all' white-collar tasks will be automated by AI within 18 months; Business Insider, February 12, 2026

 Lloyd Lee and Kelsey Vlamis, Business Insider; Microsoft AI CEO predicts 'most, if not all' white-collar tasks will be automated by AI within 18 months

[Kip Currier: Microsoft AI Chief Mustafa Suleyman's assertion that AI will be performing "most, if not all" white-collar  tasks within 12 to 18 months raises lots of questions, like:

• Is this forecast accurate or AI hype?
• As individuals and societies, do we want AI to displace human workers? Who has decided that this is "a good thing"?
• What are the spiritual implications of this revolutionary transformation of our world?
• What are the implications of such changes for the physical and mental well-being of children, young people, and adults?
• What are the short-term and long-term cognitive impacts of AI use?
• How will marginalized persons around the globe be affected by such radical employment changes? How will the Global South be impacted?
• What are the implications for income disparities and wealth concentration?
• In what ways will culture, the arts, science, medicine, and research be influenced?
• What are the impacts on education, life-long learning, and professional development?
• How will the environment, diminishing resources like water, and climate change be influenced by this employment forecast?
• In what ways will AI proliferation impact people in need and the fauna and flora of the world, particularly vulnerable organisms and ecosystems?
• How will monies and resources spent on AI data centers create new environmental justice communities and exacerbate inequities in existing ones?
• What are the implications for democracy, human rights, and civil liberties, like privacy, data agency, free expression, intellectual freedom, and access to accurate, uncensored information?
• Do you trust AI to do the white-collar jobs that humans have done? 
• Are Microsoft and Suleyman disinterested parties? Microsoft has major self-interest in hyping AI enterprise products that Microsoft will be charging users to adopt and license.
• If Suleyman's claim is accurate, or even is accurate but in a longer time period than 12 to 18 months, what kinds of oversight, regulations, and ethical guardrails are needed/desired?]

[Excerpt]

"Mustafa Suleyman, the Microsoft AI chief, said in an interview with the Financial Times that he predicts most, if not every, task in white-collar fields will be automated by AI within the next year or year and a half.

"I think that we're going to have a human-level performance on most, if not all, professional tasks," Suleyman said in the interview that was published Wednesday. "So white-collar work, where you're sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer or an accountant or a project manager or a marketing person — most of those tasks will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18 months.""

Rollout of AI may need to be slowed to ‘save society’, says JP Morgan boss; The Guardian, January 21, 2026

John Collingridge and Graeme Wearden , The Guardian; Rollout of AI may need to be slowed to ‘save society’, says JP Morgan boss

"Jamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, has said artificial intelligence “may go too fast for society” and cause “civil unrest” unless governments and business support displaced workers.

While advances in AI will have huge benefits, from increasing productivity to curing diseases, the technology may need to be phased in to “save society”, he said...

Jensen Huang, the chief executive of the semiconductor maker Nvidia, whose chips are used to power many AI systems, argued that labour shortages rather than mass payoffs were the threat.

Playing down fears of AI-driven job losses, Huang told the meeting in Davos that “energy’s creating jobs, the chips industry is creating jobs, the infrastructure layer is creating jobs … jobs, jobs, jobs”...

Huang also argued that AI robotics was a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity for Europe, as the region had an “incredibly strong” industrial manufacturing base."

They’ve outsourced the worst parts of their jobs to tech. How you can do it, too.; The Washington Post, January 20, 2026

Danielle Abril, The Washington Post; They’ve outsourced the worst parts of their jobs to tech. How you can do it, too.

"Artificial intelligence is supposed to make your work easier. But figuring out how to use it effectively can be a challenge.

Over the past several years, AI models have continued to evolve, with plenty of tools for specific tasks such as note-taking, coding and writing. Many workers spent last year experimenting with AI, applying various tools to see what actually worked. And as employers increasingly emphasize AI in their business, they’re also expecting workers to know how to use it...

The number of people using AI for work is growing, according to a recent poll by Gallup. The percentage of U.S. employees who used AI for their jobs at least a few times a year hit 45 percent in the third quarter of last year, up five percentage points from the previous quarter. The top use cases for AI, according to the poll, was to consolidate information, generate ideas and learn new things.

The Washington Post spoke to workers to learn how they’re getting the best use out of AI. Here are five of their best tips. A caveat: AI may not be suitable for all workers, so be sure to follow your company’s policy."

‘Ruined my Christmas spirit’: McDonald’s removes AI-generated ad after backlash; Agence France-Presse via The Guardian, December 10, 2025

 Agence France-Presse via The Guardian; "Ruined my Christmas spirit’: McDonald’s removes AI-generated ad after backlash

"Melanie Bridge, the chief executive of the Sweetshop Films, the company which made the ad, defended its use of AI in a post on LinkedIn.

“It’s never about replacing craft, it’s about expanding the toolbox. The vision, the taste, the leadership … that will always be human,” she said.

“And here’s the part people don’t see: the hours that went into this job far exceeded a traditional shoot. Ten people, five weeks, full-time.”

But that too sparked online debate.

Emlyn Davies, from the independent production company Bomper Studio, replied to the LinkedIn post: “What about the humans who would have been in it, the actors, the choir?

“Ten people on a project like this is a tiny amount compared to shooting it traditionally live action.”

Coca-Cola recently released its own AI-generated holiday ad, despite receiving backlash when it did the same last year.

The company’s new offering avoids close-ups of humans and mostly features AI-generated images of cute animals in a wintry setting."

CEO Andy Jassy says Amazon’s 14,000 layoffs weren’t about cutting costs or AI taking jobs: ‘It’s culture’; Fortune, November 1, 2025

MARCO QUIROZ-GUTIERREZ, Fortune; CEO Andy Jassy says Amazon’s 14,000 layoffs weren’t about cutting costs or AI taking jobs: ‘It’s culture’

[Kip Currier: Nah...I'm not buying this "culture-washing" rationale.

Are you?

I wonder if the 14,000 displaced Amazon workers are buying it.]

[Excerpt]

"Speaking during the company’s quarterly earnings call Thursday, CEO Andy Jassy said laying off those employees was about a mismatched cultural fit—and nothing else.

“The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI-driven, not right now at least,” he said about the job cuts. “It’s culture.”

The job cuts this week, which mostly affected middle managers, follow a June memo in which Jassy said Amazon will need fewer employees thanks to the “efficiency gains” brought on by AI. In a separate memo announcing this week’s layoffs, Amazon’s senior vice president of people said the layoffs were about adapting to “transformative technology.” 

'AI models in Vogue?' Guess ad sparks uproar; USA TODAY, July 28, 2025

Taijuan Moorman,USA TODAY; 'AI models in Vogue?' Guess ad sparks uproar

 "Vogue and Guess are under fire for the label's use of an AI model in an advert within the magazine's latest issue.

In Vogue's latest issue, a two-page Guess ad features a model sitting at a table while wearing a pale blue romper detailed with creme floral mesh appliqué, and the same model leaning against a wall in a black-and-white chevron-patterned maxi dress, with a coordinating handbag. In fine print in the corner of the ad reads: "Produced by Seraphinne Vallora on AI."

Reactions to the use of an artificial intelligence-generated model has been swift. Social media commentary have been harsh, especially toward Vogue, with calls to discontinue support for the magazine."