Some experts and corporate tech leaders extoll the virtues of Artificial Intelligence, proclaiming it’s the wave of the future. However, WA jobs continue to bleed out, as well as other areas of the country.
Facebook Cuts 20 Percent of Seattle-Area Workforce
Meta Officials released information in April about the pending layoffs, which amount to about 1,400 workers, most in the main headquarters in the Bellevue Spring location.
According to Geekwire, Facebook says it’s laying off the workers as part of an effort to run the company “more efficiently,“” and to offset heavy investments in AI.
Most of Affected Workers Work at Various Roles
The workers work in the arenas of Facebook, Instagram, the WhatsApp app, advertising and infrastructure.
According to a statement released by Spokesperson Tracy Clayton:
“The changes we are implementing vary by team and include layoffs, open role closures, and moving thousands of employees to business critical priorities across the company.”
Facebook (Meta) Has Dumped Billions into AI
AI is already used to help create images, videos, personalized copy for marketers, as well as “assistants” already embedded in their platforms.
They’re also using AI to continue to train agents to take on more complex digital workflows and assist in various tasks including digital and physical tasks–thereby replacing thousands of workers.
The Seattle-area layoffs will take effect July 22nd.
Many Critics Warn of Overreliance on AI
Companies who dump much of their tasks on AI become ridden with what’s called “cognitive dulling,” an inability to provide quality writing and problem solving. Workers also overcompensate when considering the quality of their AI-assisted work, when in reality it could wind up being worse than what a ‘human’ would generate. AI is only as good as how it was programmed or trained.
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