Artificial Intelligence (AI), a term that has been resonating in our ears since its inception, a technology that most of us believed would bring technological breakthroughs, has brought unprecedented changes. However, it is slowly becoming a threat to jobs — that’s a well-known fact. Among several AI-related job losses, Jack Dorsey-associated fintech firm Block, Inc., recently announced the layoff of 4,000 employees.
We are not here to explain in depth the full backstory of why Block cut its workforce. Our focus is on the bigger picture: how prominent billionaires, industry voices, and governments are talking about AI’s growing influence in both innovation and layoffs in crypto and beyond.
Block cuts workforce, because AI is the reason
According to co-founder Jack Dorsey, the firm laid off employees as part of an AI-driven restructuring. No financial losses, no business growth stagnancy, or no other failures, but just AI playing the game; this is what the co-founder explicitly stated in an X post.
“But something has changed. We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. ”
For Jack Dorsey, repeated rounds of layoffs are against morale; this rationale is what led him to choose to lay off employees at once. “We’ve done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here”, noted the executive.
Elon Musk’s unemployment prediction and universal basic income
This heading might look a bit deviating, given our topic of discussion is about AI-driven unemployment and Block’s recent workforce reduction. But here is the catch: job losses due to the arrival of AI technology are becoming a much-debated topic.
Speaking at the World Government Summit 2026 in Dubai, tech billionaire Elon Musk was highly sure about AI surpassing human skills and humans becoming jobless, which is not a new prediction. These are the things that he doesn’t wish to happen, but these are things that would probably happen; he made an unflinching statement.
In that case, a universal basic income is necessary, noted the billionaire, where unemployed people will be paid across the globe.
Let AI do its job, and humans do theirs: Expert
Ilman Shazhaev, Founder & CEO of Dizzaract, an Abu Dhabi-based gaming and tech company, is certain about what AI should do.
Speaking to AltCoin Desk, Shazhaev said AI is not meant for cutting the workforce; instead, it must be used to make organizations smarter and increase productivity.
AI isn’t a cost-cutting tool for reactive downsizing; it’s a capability to scale intelligence responsibly – from our home here in the Middle East, we’re leading the way in showing that the region can build AI-first systems that can compete on a global scale.
Ilman Shazhaev, Founder & CEO of Dizzaract
If AI has a clear role, it should be used accordingly rather than reducing human work activities.
The companies that pull ahead are the ones embedding AI into operations deliberately. Let AI do what it does best – routine, repeatable, time-intensive tasks – and let people do what they do best: solve problems, innovate, make judgment calls. That’s scaling intelligence responsibly, not just trimming payroll.
Ilman Shazhaev, Founder & CEO of Dizzaract
When talking about broader layoffs, Shazhaev pointed out that several tech firms hired employees aggressively during the COVID-19 pandemic and gained tremendous growth. However, that sudden growth has diminished to correct the overexpansion, resulting in employees losing their jobs.
And the underlying issue for these layoffs is not AI, but how companies use this technology. Several firm sare simply integrating AI tools on top of existing workflows without “rethinking how work actually gets done.”
In short, AI is not always the problem; poor implementation is sometimes the core issue. And, at Dizzaract, the executives build AI systems that integrate directly into real workflows, said Ilman Shazhaev.
Some governments are against jobless growth
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is highly optimistic about the stability of jobs in the country.
In a debate on Budget 2026, he assured that “we will not have jobless growth”, stating the country will promote AI to enhance human skills and expertise. AI for innovation, not for job loss, that’s Singapore’s clear declaration.
Now, we have even reached the stage where AI agents have started applying for jobs. Yes, you read that right; it’s not humans applying for jobs, but AI agents. Abu Dhabi-based AI and cloud computing firm G42 recently began recruiting AI agents to perform enterprise roles across the organization.
Ultimately, as Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of Nvidia, stated, AI will not replace our jobs, but a person who automates 20% or 50% of their jobs using AI will take our jobs. And that’s the catch we need to keep an eye on.
