Block CEO Jack Dorsey’s announcement of a 40% reduction in the company’s workforce due to AI — followed by other major companies justifying their workforce reductions as AI-related — sparked immediate speculation about AI. Impact on white collar jobs. While the news also led to an immediate spike of more than 20 percent in Block’s stock price, the more important issue is how AI will ultimately impact the future of employment — positively or negatively.
IDCA research indicates that more than 100 million new IT-related jobs Over the next decade, all parts of the world will be required to keep pace with the expected growth of AI factories and large-scale data centers that will fuel the digital economies they help create. However, that same growth – and the economic benefits that AI promises – is under serious threat due to the technology’s potential to eliminate large numbers of white-collar jobs.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently Warn of the threat of artificial intelligenceurging that “now is a good time” to start thinking about the impact of AI on a company’s workforce — before massive job losses actually materialize. In his view, his company is wisely integrating AI into its operations, even with what he calls a daemon ‘Massive redeployment plans’ To address the future of its employees.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said at an investor conference in 2024, “We will soon see 10-person companies with billion-dollar valuations… In my little group chatting with my tech CEO friends, there’s a betting pool for the first year there’s a one-person company with a billion-dollar valuation, which is unthinkable without AI and now [it] “It will happen.”
Unfortunately, it is highly likely that many companies will spontaneously begin laying off their workforces in large numbers, hollowing out their organizations, and perhaps accelerating a broader global economic decline. The reality is that many layoffs, at this point, would be a cyclical overreaction. Simply put, the maturity of technology is not yet sufficient to replace a fully capable and experienced workforce. Many organizations lack clarity about what roles AI can effectively replace, or how they can fill operational gaps if, in its current state, AI proves unable to fully assume these responsibilities.
The paradox is that while AI improves productivity for certain roles, for others, it actually slows production, narrows the scope for innovation, and reduces a company’s ability to think outside the box. Therefore, at the moment, AI cannot truly replace the human workforce.
However, this is only the beginning. The maturity of AI and the mass replacement of the human workforce is likely only a matter of time. With massive computing power, access to abundant information and unprecedented levels of investment, AI will continue to take root in organizations, businesses and governments alike.
Big layoffs will come, wave after wave. The problem is that these are professionals with solid education and seemingly established positions: analysts, engineers, experts who maintain decent standards of living. Their displacement will constitute an economic burden and a global social dilemma. Even more worrying is that no country seems prepared for what is coming. No serious attention has been given to how rising middle-class unemployment can be managed, or how social unrest and economic destabilization can be prevented.
This suggests that if left unchecked, and assuming the world is able to generate enough power to power the data centers needed to fuel a mature state of AI, the AI ecosystem could eventually replace most cognitive-based jobs. Human cognition, our ability to analyse, synthesize, and find meaningful solutions, remains one of the last essential capabilities not completely outsourced to machines. However, as AI’s capabilities expand, its shadow grows while ours shrinks. As this trend develops, we will lose our ability to work and perform, even if jobs were available, which they will not be.
Ultimately, competition itself can become a matter of participation. Every role in the company will be outsourced to specialized AI agents who meet the needs of each function. A company’s advantage over another will depend on its ability to procure the best AI and computing capabilities, not on its human workforce. This will turn the competitive landscape into a gray and redundant one.
Can artificial intelligence enhance access to information, aid research, and advance scientific breakthroughs? Yes. Should we prevent technology from expanding and developing? No, we shouldn’t. But there is a threat associated with unrestrained and unregulated AI development. There is a real need for clear global guidelines governing the deployment of AI. Otherwise, humanity risks once again creating overly powerful tools without fully understanding – or preparing for – their long-term effects.
The term “guardrails” is often used to describe what is needed to slow down reckless policies of eliminating the workforce in favor of AI. The word means moderation, not overly restrictive or punitive regulation that acts as a disincentive to business. This is not a call for senseless EU-style intervention or policies that stifle creativity. Rather, it is a call for thoughtful leadership.
Unless business and government leaders seriously confront the fundamental question of what large-scale AI layoffs might actually achieve – and what unintended consequences they might unleash – we will continue to live under profound economic and societal uncertainty.
Mehdi Bariafi is the CEO and founder of the company International Data Centers Authority (IDCA), the world’s leading research organization in the field of digital economy. Read them Global Digital Economy Report 2026.
