Jack Dorsey is laying off 4,000 of 10,000 employees at Block Inc. Precursor of AI mass-layoffs?
Jack Dorsey hat gestern angekündigt 4,000 von 10,000 Mitarbeitern bei Block Inc. zu kündigen und ihnen einen sanften Ausstieg mit großzügigen Bonuszahlungen und langen Übergangsfristen zugesichert.
Block (früher Square) bietet in den USA Zahlungsdienstleistungen im Point-of-Sale-Bereich an und entwickelt auch die in den USA-bekannte Cash App, die Usern nicht nur digitale Zahlungen ermöglicht, sondern auch in Aktien und Bitcoin zu investieren.
Als Grund für die Reorganisation nennt Jack Dorsey die KI-Entwicklung im Bereich Coding, was auch glaubwürdig ist.
Block machte 2024 24 Milliarden Dollar Umsatz, Milliarden Gewinne und verwaltet Assets ebenfalls im zweistelligen Milliarden-Bereich. Das ist beeindruckend.
Denke also nicht, dass die Umstrukturierung dem Krypto-Bärenmarkt geschuldet ist, sondern diesmal tatsächlich an der KI-Entwicklung liegen könnte.
Durch Vibe-Coding mit den neuen Frontier-Modellen könnte tatsächlich die Produktivität gesteigert werden. Statt 10 Programmierern braucht man in Zukunft vielleicht bald nur noch 6 oder 7. Genau diese Reduktion möchte Block jetzt vorwegnehmen, anstatt die Entlassungen auf mehrere Wellen zu verteilen. Auch das wird in dem Statement erklärt, warum das so gemacht wird. Ist heftig. Wie können Junior-Entwickler jemals wieder einen Jobs finden?
Was sagt ihr dazu? Denkt ihr, dass die Mitarbeiter-Reduktion wirklich den Fortschritten bei Vibe-Coding geschuldet ist? Vorbote für Massenentlassungen wegen KI?
Reorganization at Block Inc. due to AI vibe coding advances?
https://x.com/jack/status/2027129697092731343
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English
Jack Dorsey announced yesterday that he would be laying off 4,000 of Block Inc.'s 10,000 employees, assuring them a smooth exit with generous bonus payments and long transition periods.
Block (formerly Square) offers point-of-sale payment services in the US and also develops the popular Cash App, which is well known in the US and allows users not only to make digital payments but also to invest in stocks and Bitcoin.
Jack Dorsey cites AI development in the field of coding as the reason for the reorganization, which is credible.
Block generated $24 billion in revenue in 2024, billions in profits, and manages assets in the double-digit billion range too. Impressive numbers.
So I don't think that the restructuring is due to the crypto bear market, but could actually be due to AI development this time around.
Vibe coding with the new frontier models could actually increase productivity. Instead of 10 programmers, in the future you might only need 6 or 7. Block wants to anticipate this reduction now, rather than spreading the layoffs over several waves. The statement also explains why this is being done. Insane when you think about what is coming? How will junior programmers ever find jobs again?
What do you think? Do you think the reduction in staff is really due to advances in vibe coding? A harbinger of mass layoffs due to AI?
https://www.reddit.com/r/anticapitalism/comments/1rg4o4p/jack_dorsey_lays_off_4000_of_10000_employees_at/
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Schwer einzuschätzen. Aber der Grad der Entlassung, mehr als 40% auf einen Schlag, ist schon überraschend. Das machst du nicht mal einfach so, da stellst du die Firma komplett anders auf für. Dorsey hat offenbar einen
denke dass Dorsey viel Erfahrung mit Coding hat und weiß, was er macht, die Frage ist, ob KI nur ein Vorwand ist, oder tatsächlich bereits 40% der Coder eingespart werden können.
Naja von Microsoft, Salesforce etc. hat man solche Zahlen schon gehört - 30-50% des Codings macht bereits KI.
They fire 6k skilled workers to code with AI. Those same seniors with business knowledge and skills can use the same AI to build competitors. If 1% of the laid off employees start competing you have 60 competitors. If 1 in 100 competitors succeed there is a 60% change you will get a succesful competitors.
I have a theory, I don't believe too strongly but is possibility, that is if interest rates go down companies will start hiring not to be more productive (they will even if it doesn't scale) but because anyone who is not employed is possibly creating a competitor.
AI is new, millions of people are creating side projects, it is reasonable to expect a couple hundred, or thousand, of them to succeed and start hiring and competing with giants.
Layoffs and AI are not just increasing productivity and lowering costs (by firing people) but also possibly creating the next generation os competitors and products. If I were a stablished company I would care less about my employees and more about what millions of people are possibly doing and how can I avoid being replaced (and the answer is having humans on the payroll)
Interesting point, hiring more engineers than needed to avoid the competitors getting those engineers or those founding new competing startups, but don't think that the laid off workers can easily compete against a multi-billion company.
They can't exactly but it is a numbers game, lay off a million people, a million people vibe code something, statistically some will succeed and compete.
Henry Ford in the USA used to pay double the salaries, some say it was to drive up the economy but also it also served to starve the competition from workers so he got all the skilled workers and the competition struggled to keep up.
I don't really trust company laying off for AI, AI is not ready to replace human work
Cash App-Nutzer hoffen auf weniger Bugs mit weniger Entwicklern.
If productivity increases, there's no problem; other types of jobs will be created.
It is a devastating scenario for the employees that got lay off
!BBH
I think vibe coding has a lot of potential, but it is still too early to rely on it heavily
The future does not yet exist; we are still creating it. It has not been decided whether artificial intelligence will be a helper or a threat.
It’s interesting that this is happening despite strong revenue numbers. With products like Cash App and their broader fintech ecosystem, it doesn’t look like a survival decision.