The correlation between adoption AI and laying off software staff is just a correlation. Layoffs in this industry have happened before. There were plenty in the 2000s. That’s not to say that AI has no effects or I’m defending AI in any way. Rather that if you believe that AI is causing layoffs in software and the profits come from replacing workers with AI you’re getting the wrong picture and reaching the wrong conclusions. Companies can absolutely make more money by laying off staff in many conditions. For example laying off most of the team that built a system when only a fraction is needed to support it reduces costs and boosts profits. Another example and a more relevant one, is when a firm stops believing it’ll be able to sell more product in the future, laying off the workers it had hired to build that product reduces its costs and boosts its profits. None of this is new and the technology sector isn’t special. We’ve experienced a prolonged period of labour shortage in it which made it seem different but that’s always changing.