AI didn't cut dev jobs, it cut raises—layoffs were COVID overhiring corrections

mervenoyann · x · 2026-09-13

Hugging Face's Merve Noyan pushes back on doom narratives: past industrial revolutions transformed rather than eliminated jobs, and AI hasn't reduced dev headcount—just suppressed raises. She argues many layoffs are corrections for COVID overhiring relabeled as AI-driven to boost stock prices, and that the real need is knowledge workers skilled at managing agents, though most people outside the AI circle haven't even used them yet.

Related event: Hugging Face researchers debate the meaning of building AI and the 'god-machine' dilemma(6 posts)→

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