Current and former Block workers say AI can’t do their jobs after Jack Dorsey’s mass layoffs: ‘You can’t really AI that’

The CEO said he cut the company's workforce by 4,000 people - almost in half - because of gains in AI productivity

Mark remembers the first time he wondered whether he was teaching Block's AI tools how to do his job - and maybe even replace him. He was at his fintech company's extravagant anniversary party last September. As executives led a presentation on the productivity benefits of a new internal AI tool, Mark, who worked in the product department, discussed his worries with colleagues. While he wasn't sure what would happen in a few years, he told a co-worker sitting next to him that for now, there was no way the technology was so advanced that it could move the business forward without employees like him to help drive vision and strategy.

These AI tools were not proactive. He had to tell them what to do. Block still needed him, he thought.