I'm not sure that AI washing can really explain this at this point. Seems extreme. Will this be another klarna moment where they are calling people back in 3 months?
https://www.wsj.com/business/jack-dorseys-block-to-lay-off-4-000-employees-in-ai-remake-28f0d869
Jack Dorsey’s Block to Lay Off 40% of Its Workforce in AI Remake
Parent of Square and Cash App says intelligence tools have changed how to run a company
By Angel Au-Yeung
Feb. 26, 2026 5:04 pm ET
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and co-founder & CEO of Square, at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention.
Jack Dorsey at a convention in Miami in 2021. Marco Bello/AFP/Getty Images
Block XYZ 4.99%increase; green up pointing triangle, the payments company founded by Jack Dorsey that includes Square and Cash App, said Thursday that it plans to lay off 40% of its workforce, or more than 4,000 employees.
Dorsey alluded to artificial-intelligence tools as the reason for the cuts in a letter to shareholders.
“The core thesis is simple,” wrote Dorsey. “Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company.”
The company said the plan would cost it $450 million to $500 million in expenses and severance. Shares rallied more than 20% in after-hours trading.
Big companies have already been laying off thousands of white collar workers over the past year, in some cases pointing to increased efficiency created by AI. Salesforce cut roughly 4,000 customer-support roles last year because of AI advancements. Pinterest, meanwhile, has said it is laying off nearly 15% of its workforce as part of a plan to focus more of the company’s resources on AI-related roles.
And the fear AI would shrink jobs and replace the functions of whole companies sparked a market rout earlier this week after a research report imaged a dystopian future for the U.S. economy.
Analysts and economists have pushed back against the scenarios laid out in the report, but Block’s drastic job cuts will likely stoke up those fears.
The company said most of the layoffs would occur in the first quarter of this year and be completed by the second quarter.
“I don’t think we’re early to this realization. I think most companies are late,” Dorsey wrote. “Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes.”