Current and former Block workers say AI can’t do their jobs after Jack Dorsey’s mass layoffs: ‘You can’t really AI that’
TL;DR
Block CEO Jack Dorsey cut roughly 4,000 jobs – nearly half the workforce – citing AI-driven productivity gains as the justification.
Key Points
- Current and former employees push back, saying their roles required judgment, strategy, and context that Block's AI tools simply couldn't replicate.
- One former product manager said he had to direct the AI tools at every step – they were never proactive or self-sufficient.
- The company promoted a new internal AI tool at a company event even as layoff fears spread among staff.
- Critics argue the AI rationale is cover for a conventional cost-cutting exercise dressed up in tech-era language.
Nauti's Take
When a CEO lays off half his company and points to 'AI productivity' as the reason, the burden of proof should be high – and right now, it isn't being met. Former employees describe tools that needed constant human direction, which tracks with where the technology actually stands in 2026. Dorsey is selling a near-future vision as a present-day reality, and thousands of workers are absorbing the cost of that bet.
Whether Block actually moves faster and ships better products with half the headcount will be the real test – and that verdict is still years away.
Context
Block is among the first major fintechs to explicitly tie mass layoffs to AI productivity gains, potentially setting a template other firms will follow. When executives claim 'AI did it' without hard evidence, it muddies the water around what AI can actually deliver today. The case also highlights a recurring blind spot: strategic, context-heavy roles are far harder to automate than leadership narratives suggest.
Sources