“AI Is the Perfect Scapegoat”: The Hidden Layoff Strategy Behind Big Tech's Workforce Cuts
Release Date: 10/03/2025
AI Is Watching You Shop—And Changing the Prices
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
AI is rapidly turning modern marketing into a surveillance-and-optimization machine. What started with loyalty cards and basic customer databases has evolved into always-on tracking across apps, websites, and devices—feeding models that learn what people want, when they’re vulnerable to buying, and how to push them toward a decision. In this video, we break down how “surveillance marketing” works in plain language: companies collect massive amounts of behavioral data, stitch it together with identity graphs and third-party sources, and use AI to target messages in real time. Then...
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Why the Amazon-McKinsey AI Alliance Is Destined to Fail Enterprises
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
The launch of the Amazon McKinsey Group (AMG), a high-profile partnership between AWS and McKinsey, is being presented as a game-changing initiative for enterprise-scale digital transformation. They tout end-to-end value, integrated teams, and billion-dollar business impact. But let’s cut through the advertising: AMG’s very existence highlights the growing desperation among cloud providers and consulting giants faced with the slow, challenging rollout of artificial intelligence across enterprise landscapes. These firms, each with their own vested interests, are combining efforts not to...
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AI in Cars Is Backfiring: More AI Features, Fewer Buyers
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
I’ve spent decades watching enterprises adopt technology, and the pattern is always the same: innovation only creates growth when it reduces friction and increases trust. The automotive industry is pushing AI into the cabin as if “more intelligence” automatically means “more demand.” But buyers don’t purchase abstractions—they purchase outcomes. Right now, much of in-car AI adds complexity to routine tasks, introduces unpredictable behavior, and shifts capabilities behind subscriptions and post-sale updates. That’s not a value story; it’s a risk story. What’s worse is...
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AI in 1985 vs 2026: What Changed (and Why It Matters)
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
In this video, I’m going to take you back to 1985, when building AI meant rolling up your sleeves and encoding expertise by hand. I’ll tell a personal story from that era—using Prolog, Lisp, and Borland M1 to create rule-based systems that could make decisions in the real world, long before the cloud and GPUs made “intelligence” feel instant. Then we’ll jump to 2026, where AI is defined by foundation models, tool-using agents, and systems that learn from enormous datasets rather than just following explicit rules. You’ll see what we gained—speed, scale, and the ability to work...
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Windows 11 vs Linux for AI… The Results Shocked Me
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
Windows 11 can run local AI, but in real day-to-day use it often feels like it’s working against you—especially once you start stacking multiple AI tools, projects, and installs. What I found is that Linux generally delivers a smoother “AI desktop” experience: setups are more straightforward, common AI instructions match what you’re actually running, and GPU-accelerated apps tend to behave more consistently. The result is less time spent troubleshooting and more time getting outputs. On Windows 11, the biggest pain points showed up around friction and...
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Why ‘AI Agent Marketplaces’ Are the Next Big Scam
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
AI agents are the new buzzword in enterprise tech, but the real question isn’t “can we build them?”—it’s “can we actually sell them in a way enterprises will trust and fund?” This video, from a Dave Linthicum-style vantage point, cuts through the marketing gloss and treats agents as what they really are: autonomous software systems wired into messy, mission-critical environments. We unpack what an AI agent actually is, how it differs from a simple chatbot or workflow, and what it takes architecturally to move from a cool demo to a production-grade capability. From there, we...
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Windows 11: The AI Update Nobody Asked For
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
Windows 11 wasn’t “the future”—it was a forced pivot. Microsoft took an OS people relied on for speed, flexibility, and control, then locked the door behind TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and arbitrary CPU lists that stranded millions of perfectly good PCs. And for what? A redesigned UI that’s less customizable, a Start Menu that feels like a billboard, and a setup flow that tries to drag Home users into an always-online Microsoft account whether they want it or not. Then comes the real point: Windows 11 increasingly feels like a platform for Microsoft’s priorities—cloud services, Edge,...
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Why Your RAM, SSD & CPU Cost More: Blame the AI Arms Race
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
Everyone’s hyped about AI breakthroughs—but almost nobody is talking about the bill that’s being handed to normal people. In this video, we break down how the AI gold rush is quietly driving up the price of basic hardware: GPUs, RAM, SSDs, and even CPUs. Hyperscalers are signing multi‑billion‑dollar contracts and buying entire foundry runs of chips, and that doesn’t just drain supply—it resets the global price floor for everyone else. The result? Gamers, PC builders, small IT shops, and indie ML labs are all forced to pay more for the same components they used to buy a few years...
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These Jobs Are at the Greatest Risk of Being Replaced by AI…Be Ready.
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
Is AI coming for your job… or not yet? In this video, I break down a simple test to understand how exposed your role really is, based on the patterns of work AI is best at replacing. Instead of vague hype, we’ll look at concrete signals that your job might be in the danger zone. You’ll see the core pattern behind high‑risk roles: predictable, rules-based tasks, high repetition, and “good enough” outputs where speed and cost matter more than originality. I’ll walk through real examples like customer support, basic content production, document processing, and reporting...
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STOP Building AI Systems You Can’t Afford
Dave Linthicum Is Not AI
I developed this cost comparison to ground the AI discussion in economic reality instead of assumptions and marketing slides. Too often, generative and agentic AI are framed as inevitable next steps—something you add “on top” of existing systems—as if the only risk is moving too slowly. In truth, these approaches introduce substantial new costs: specialized skills, LLM usage, vector infrastructure, orchestration platforms, and ongoing governance. By putting three approaches—traditional development, generative AI–enhanced systems, and agentic AI solutions—side by side...
info_outlineThe recent wave of layoffs in the tech industry has increasingly been attributed to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), sparking debates about the true motivations behind these workforce reductions. Companies like Salesforce, Microsoft, and others have pointed to AI as a driver of job eliminations, with Salesforce, for instance, laying off 4,000 workers, primarily customer support staff, while simultaneously ramping up hiring through the H1-B visa program for specialized roles, including AI and data engineering. Critics argue that AI is often used as a convenient scapegoat for broader cost-cutting strategies, such as labor globalization and workforce rebalancing—practices that replace domestic employees with lower-paid H1-B visa holders.
Although AI is undeniably reshaping industries, experts contest the extent to which it can entirely replace human roles, particularly on the scale companies claim. Financial pressures, restructuring budgets, and investor demands for increased efficiency are often hidden drivers behind these layoffs, masking the reality with AI as a buzzword. This trend raises ethical concerns about transparency and corporate accountability, as well as questions about the future of work in an AI-driven economy. Rather than solely blaming AI, experts urge reevaluating workforce strategies to balance innovation with ethical labor practices and employee retraining initiatives.