I want to show you two numbers.
50,000. That’s how many tech workers were laid off in the first 60 days of 2026.
24%. That’s how much the stock price of Block jumped the day Jack Dorsey announced he was cutting half his workforce.
(A company making $10 billion in annual profit fired 4,000 people — and investors celebrated.)
Indeed, this sounds scary.
So are we about to see mass unemployment as AI replaces human workers?
Short answer: Maybe… But that’s the wrong question.
Here’s the right question: what does this all mean for YOU?
Dorsey’s quote provides a hint: “Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company.”
Here’s what this means in practice…
Every major technology shift in history — electrification, the internet, mobile — created two groups:
…The people who retooled early.
…And the people who waited to see how it played out.
Those who waited always had good reasons. It felt risky. The timing wasn’t right. They weren’t sure it would last.
AI is moving faster than any of those shifts. Which means the gap between “early” and “late” is compressing too.
Right now, someone learning AI Engineering can do the work of a team.
Companies are actively looking for those people. The same wave that is cutting jobs is also creating them on the other side.
Here are just a few examples of exploding jobs:
- AI Engineer — 34,000+ open roles
- AI/ML Engineer — 21,000+ open roles
- Prompt Engineer — 8,000+ open roles
- AI Trainer — a job that didn’t exist 3 years ago
- AI Ethicist — an academic role in 2022, now showing up in enterprise job postings
That’s the part most people miss when they read the layoff headlines.
The question isn’t whether AI changes your career. It’s whether you’re building or waiting.
Build stuff with AI and position yourself for the future.
Fear not,
Kirill
PS: Can you answer this riddle? AI won’t take your job if it’s _____________.