AI Made Me Do It

Remember when Walgreens closed stores and blamed shoplifting — and then their own CFO admitted “maybe we cried too much”? The real
reason was cost-cutting; the crime was the cover story. In this episode I argue that “AI did it” has become 2026’s version of that exact move: a
plausible, external, un-arguable reason that lets leadership announce layoffs without owning the decision underneath. 
We follow the money. The 2023 tech-layoff wave — over a quarter-million jobs — was the post-COVID over-hiring correction, and almost nobody
blamed AI. Two years later the same cuts, at the same kinds of companies, get relabeled “AI-driven efficiencies.” I break down what’s actually
driving most cuts (over-hiring, expensive capital, and the permanent shareholder demand to protect margin) — while keeping myself honest
about the narrower, real ways AI genuinely is reshaping work. 
Then the part that matters: what the cover story costs you. It feeds the fear of the three-in-four workers who already don’t feel their jobs are safe,
and it burns the trust you can’t buy back. I close with a simple framework — separate the decision from the tool — plus a Monday-morning
playbook for reading your own company when the AI-layoff memo lands. This isn’t AI-hype or AI-doom. It’s about telling the truth when jobs go
away. 

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