r/technology • u/DontFearTheCreaper • 20h ago

Social Media Tech CEOs who grinned behind Trump at inauguration lose billions in wake of tariffs

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-tariff-bezos-musk-zuckerberg-b2727147.html
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u/Kendertas 19h ago

The problem is there ain't much meat left on the bone to cut. At some point you do actually have to employe people, and there is only so much doing more with less that's even possible. The big tech companies had already cut back a ton of staff before tariffs even dropped

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u/Pretend-Marsupial258 19h ago

Why do you think they're dumping billions into AI? If it works out like they think it will, then they'll never have to hire a human ever again.

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u/AbleInfluence302 19h ago

AI isn’t even close to do the job of their engineers. Until we get AGI they can’t lay everyone off. Though there are productivity gains so they need less.

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u/Pretend-Marsupial258 19h ago

Yeah, of course. That doesn't mean that they won't fire people and replace them with AI anyway since AI is so "good." Business leaders make stupid decisions all the time that hurt their employees.

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u/AbleInfluence302 19h ago

I completely agree. They will try to do it. AI is only hyped because companies want to replace their employees. No one care about the research benefits or advancements. Anything AI is about replacing humans.

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u/Astralglamour 4h ago

Amazing how they don't seem to consider who will pay taxes or buy products if there are no jobs for average people to work, as the rich dont pay any taxes or buy enough to prop up the economy (being as there are so few of them).

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u/Litarider 19h ago

Easy, you just make immigrants scared as hell. Then you replace citizen workers with people who are here on H1B visas. Because immigrants are scared as hell and loss of an H1B job means you get deported right back to where you originated, those immigrant workers will shut up and not make waves. They have already been doing this for years.