alt.hn

2/3/2026 at 6:14:23 AM

Ask HN: Have you been fired because of AI?

by s-stude

2/3/2026 at 11:42:35 AM

Yes, but not the way you are thinking.

My prior job was for a group within a large company who were early into going "All in" on AI. They insisted that we move our products towards AI, that everyone use AI for all the things, etc. It did not go well. At all. All the management above us got fired. I've never before seen an entire executive team all fired at the same time. Then they fired us, too. The handful people who were left went back to their pre-AI product strategies, recovered, and are running just fine now.

by codingdave

2/3/2026 at 8:21:27 PM

What were the primary factors? Costs, personnel tracking, hallucinations, speed of delivery, or other?

by austin-cheney

2/3/2026 at 12:49:43 PM

Do you think they will be implementing AI again anytime soon? haha.

by s-stude

2/3/2026 at 8:37:28 AM

In my friend’s company they stopped all hiring. And ask everybody to use AI as much as possible. Maybe this is not “firing” but definitely no hiring.

by anabes

2/3/2026 at 9:49:08 AM

Yes, i was fired from my role last week. We were buliding B2B SaaS in analytics space. Though not by AI, it was due to the market conditions created by AI. Customers are not willing to spend money on tools without proper AI story.

by oyeg

2/3/2026 at 12:45:12 PM

Was there any chance for your company to implement AI and to make more sales/ keep your job?

by s-stude

2/3/2026 at 11:58:47 AM

Love this because I call BS on most "We've let go 1,000 employees due to AI".

For example, I just saw Pinterest say they let go of a large part of their workforce because of AI, but in reality, their new CEO has BUTCHERED the app. It's practically unusable.

More and more companies seem to be screwing up, and instead of saying "we screwed up," it's a lot better to say "we've replaced these people with AI!"

by gitbit-org

2/3/2026 at 12:51:56 PM

You can create Pinterest-like images on the fly now with AI. IMO, the end is inevitable for similar companies.

by s-stude

2/3/2026 at 8:57:38 AM

Do you mean fired or let go / made redundant?

by joefarish

2/3/2026 at 9:21:08 AM

Fired or let go. I understand that many positions have duplicate people in backup roles, so some will be redundant.

by s-stude

2/3/2026 at 4:15:11 PM

No, but every day I have to listen to my insufferable manager tell us we have to use whatever AI tool is trending on X.

If I could quote this stupid industry I would.

by fogzen