Techie and Markets Tracker

The AI layoff gamble is backfiring. Companies that rushed to replace workers with AI are now cleaning up the mess, per The Guardian. Meta scaled back plans to cut staff and use more AI agents after employees spent growing time cleaning up the agents’ technical and security errors. It’s now rehiring managers. Microsoft and McKinsey are limiting employee AI use as costs pile up. Walmart workers say AI scheduling and task tools set impossible standards and generate false alerts. The payoff isn’t showing up: 90% of executives say AI hasn’t yet boosted productivity at their companies, per an Atlanta Fed working paper. Yet more than 112,000 US job cuts this year have cited AI, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas.