#generativeai

The article says the McKinsey layoffs are a warning for the whole consulting industry in the AI age. Consulting once depended on smart people and hard to find information, but AI now does much of that work faster and cheaper. Clients want firms that can use technology to actually make changes not just give advice, so traditional strategy firms must adapt or risk falling behind.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91463039/why-the-mckinsey-layoffs-are-a-warning-signal-for-consulting-in-the-ai-age-ai-layoffs-management-consulting

The new CEO, now in the role about 18 months, has a more down to earth style than Greed. He came in with lots of fanfare on transparency & to right the ship. Assets & Clients continue to bleed at record numbers & more is in the hopper. Employee sentiment is negative and many are - not feel - are - overworked and underpaid.

New revenue enhancers like managed accounts in group plan are non existent and the corporation is still an operational mess w/weak leaders overseeing sales & operations. Sales are down and automation upgrades cu-m at a snails pace.

PR wise, company is still taking it on the chin w/no real plan in place to boost public review sentiment.

One bright are the Lipper awards but company can't find a way to get this news in front of clients. On the dark side, CITs are not used & the investment line up changes every Haley's commet.

Website hasn't been updated in yrs, and AI and Omni channel communications w/clients is well behind competitors. Team CX really does Sucx.

Disastrous exit from Truspire, and fire sales of two property gems like 320 Park & 1150 Broken Sound were the only thing preventing NY DFS from some type of takeover and helping replenish the $500M in lost surplus since the Pandemic.

Rating Agencies have lowered ratings and lawsuits against former employees in an attempt to protect the bizness have been distractions and embarrassing.

The CEO ran on transparency and even in first public statements when Rich asked Janoffseky what surprised her the most, she went on the record and said "lack of transparency"

Board is invisible and old while being out of touch.

After 18 months, our grade is: D- (2 Star Rating) time for a performance improvement plan for him and his lackeys.

Please post fun lowlights of staff meeting.

• AI and agentic agents. Fortunately B. didn’t talk about autonomous workspace vaporware. Dex was supposed to be competing with control up several years back. Revenue is still not able to cover Bharat’s travel.
• Guada talking about recognition slack channel to motivate everyone.
• Someone asking about valuation in 2028. Will Omnissa be around by that time?
• Suni forced laughter.
• Simzhu volume is going lower quarter after quarter due to declining revenue.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/microsoft-scales-back-ai-goals-because-almost-nobody-is-using-copilot/ar-AA1S5WkO

ChatGPT and Gemini are destroying the competition. Charlie is on the wrong side of this situation due to his financial ties to M$. Time to jettison him and find someone who actually knows what they are doing.

Artificial intelligence is coming for your jobs 70% reduction in manufacturing.

We all knew Murrays days were numbered when Big Al came in, but I must say I'm surprised it came out of the blue on a Thursday night the week before Christmas.

Beware....Certain field techs were now volunteered to test an AI program that we are being told to eliminate some inside jobs such as NTs(Network Techs)

And no, AI will not save the day. Even if it could, why would any of us, actual human beings who need jobs, be happy about that?

The future of American leadership in AI starts with talent. Proud to support the U.S. Tech Force to bring top technologists into government and tackle mission-critical challenges. You can learn more at TechForce.gov

https://blogs.opentext.com/tis-the-season-to-simplify-work-5-ways-ai-helps-teams-wrap-up-the-year-smarter/

1. Give employees the gift of better focus

Perhaps the most meaningful impact of AI content management is how it changes the employee experience.

By automating repetitive work and simplifying content discovery, teams can focus on higher-value tasks, such as strategy, innovation, and customer experience. It’s a lasting gift: fewer silos, faster collaboration, and a renewed sense of control over information.

This is better than the jelly of the month club, since this is the gift that keeps giving forever, not just the whole year.

The company is planning deep cuts across its non-client-facing staff, Bloomberg reports, as much as 10% of headcount within some areas, a move that could eliminate several thousand jobs over the next 18 to 24 months.

https://qz.com/mckinsey-layoffs-white-collar-jobs-ai

Cisco Having Cramer’s Blessing should say it all…enjoy!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jim-cramer-cisco-company-heart-153450841.html

Last quarter, I rolled out Microsoft Copilot to 4,000 employees at $30 per seat per month—about $1.4 million a year. I packaged the whole thing as “digital transformation,” a phrase the board loved so much they approved it in eleven minutes. No one asked what Copilot would actually do, including me. I promised it would “10x productivity,” which isn’t a real metric, but it sounds like one. When HR asked how we’d measure that, I told them we’d “leverage analytics dashboards,” and they promptly stopped asking. Three months later, I checked the usage reports: 47 people had opened it, 12 had used it more than once, and one of them was me. I used it to summarize an email I could have read in 30 seconds; it took 45 seconds and still required correcting hallucinations. Still, I declared the pilot a success—success meaning it didn’t visibly fail. When the CFO asked about ROI, I showed him a graph that moved up and to the right, charting a metric I invented called “AI enablement.” He nodded approvingly. We are now officially “AI-enabled,” whatever that means, and it’s proudly featured in our investor deck.
A senior developer asked why we didn’t just use Claude or ChatGPT, and I replied that we needed “enterprise-grade security.” When he asked what that meant, I said “compliance.” When he asked which compliance, I said “all of them.” His skepticism earned him a “career development conversation,” after which he stopped asking questions. Meanwhile, Microsoft sent a case study team who happily accepted my claim that we “saved 40,000 hours,” a number I produced by multiplying employees by a figure I made up. They didn’t verify it, and they never do. Now we’re featured on Microsoft’s website as a global enterprise achieving massive productivity gains, and the CEO shared it on LinkedIn to 3,000 likes—despite never having used Copilot. None of the executives have; we granted ourselves an exemption to avoid “digital distraction,” a policy I wrote. With licenses renewing next month, I’m requesting an expansion: 5,000 more seats. We haven’t used the first 4,000, but this time we’ll “drive adoption,” which means mandatory training—a 45-minute webinar no one watches but everyone completes, and completion is a metric. Metrics go in dashboards, dashboards go in board presentations, and board presentations get me promoted. I’ll be SVP by Q3. I still don’t know what Copilot actually does, but I know what it’s for: proving we’re “investing in AI.” Investment means spending, spending means commitment, and commitment means we’re serious about the future—the future being whatever I say it is, as long as the graph goes up and to the right.

Last quarter I rolled out Microsoft Copilot to 4,000 employees.

$30 per seat per month.

$1.4 million annually.

I called it "digital transformation."

The board loved that phrase.

They approved it in eleven minutes.

No one asked what it would actually do.

Including me.

I told everyone it would "10x productivity."

That's not a real number.

But it sounds like one.

HR asked how we'd measure the 10x.

I said we'd "leverage analytics dashboards."

They stopped asking.

Three months later I checked the usage reports.

47 people had opened it.

12 had used it more than once.

One of them was me.

I used it to summarize an email I could have read in 30 seconds.

It took 45 seconds.

Plus the time it took to fix the hallucinations.

But I called it a "pilot success."

Success means the pilot didn't visibly fail.

The CFO asked about ROI.

I showed him a graph.

The graph went up and to the right.

It measured "AI enablement."

I made that metric up.

He nodded approvingly.

We're "AI-enabled" now.

I don't know what that means.

But it's in our investor deck.

A senior developer asked why we didn't use Claude or ChatGPT.

I said we needed "enterprise-grade security."

He asked what that meant.

I said "compliance."

He asked which compliance.

I said "all of them."

He looked skeptical.

I scheduled him for a "career development conversation."

He stopped asking questions.

Microsoft sent a case study team.

They wanted to feature us as a success story.

I told them we "saved 40,000 hours."

I calculated that number by multiplying employees by a number I made up.

They didn't verify it.

They never do.

Now we're on Microsoft's website.

"Global enterprise achieves 40,000 hours of productivity gains with Copilot."

The CEO shared it on LinkedIn.

He got 3,000 likes.

He's never used Copilot.

None of the executives have.

We have an exemption.

"Strategic focus requires minimal digital distraction."

I wrote that policy.

The licenses renew next month.

I'm requesting an expansion.

5,000 more seats.

We haven't used the first 4,000.

But this time we'll "drive adoption."

Adoption means mandatory training.

Training means a 45-minute webinar no one watches.

But completion will be tracked.

Completion is a metric.

Metrics go in dashboards.

Dashboards go in board presentations.

Board presentations get me promoted.

I'll be SVP by Q3.

I still don't know what Copilot does.

But I know what it's for.

It's for showing we're "investing in AI."

Investment means spending.

Spending means commitment.

Commitment means we're serious about the future.

The future is whatever I say it is.

As long as the graph goes up and to the right.

All this talk about how AI is going to take this company so far ahead has it really helped you at all? Or just helped you out the door?

Is this a weedout course for employees? I've just completed it and tbh, it's not something everyone could complete. It requires critical thinking, debugging and prompt engineering to complete.

What do you think will happen to those who don't get a good grade on theirs?

From Reuters

Wells Fargo: severance likely to rise in fourth quarter
Bank will roll out AI gradually over the next year and beyond
More efficiencies to come from AI, CEO says
Dec 9 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo (WFC.N), opens new tab expects more cuts to its workforce and sees higher severance expenses in the current fourth quarter, CEO Charlie Scharf said on Tuesday, adding that artificial intelligence was set to change the way its business works.
"We have gone through the budgeting process, and even pre-artificial intelligence, we do expect to have less people as we go into next year," Scharf said on the sidelines of a Goldman Sachs financial services conference.

$11B? Who wants to hazard a guess as to how AK is going to pay for this?

https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/ibm-nears-roughly-11-billion-deal-for-confluent-276f52d8

Deal for data-infrastructure company could come as soon as Monday

By: Lauren Thomas
Dec. 7, 2025 10:01 pm ET

International Business Machines IBM is in advanced talks to acquire data-infrastructure company Confluent CFLT for around $11 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The details

A deal could be announced as soon as Monday, the people said, cautioning that the talks could still fall apart.

Confluent had a market value of around $8 billion as of Friday, while IBM’s was around $290 billion.

Confluent provides technology that helps manage streams of real-time data used in big artificial-intelligence models. An AI bo-m has boosted the need for its capabilities from companies in sectors including retail, technology and financial services.

The context

An acquisition of Confluent would be the biggest deal for IBM in recent memory as it repositions its business around AI.

Last year, it agreed to buy cloud-software provider HashiCorp for $6.4 billion, in a deal that pushed it further into fast-growing cloud and AI offerings.

In October, IBM posted higher revenue in the third quarter, boosted by higher-than-expected growth in its consulting business. IBM in November said it would lay off thousands of employees before the end of the year, joining other technology companies that are repositioning themselves in the age of artificial intelligence.

IBM has been competing with Google, Microsoft and a number of startups to build computers that exceed the abilities of the best conventional ones. It is working on larger clusters of quantum chips that it expects will enable large-scale computing in the next five years.

Chief Executive Arvind Krishna recently said IBM has used AI—specifically AI agents—to replace the work of a couple of hundred human-resources workers. That has enabled it to hire more programmers and salespeople.

Technology has been one of the busiest sectors for dealmaking this year. Google parent Alphabet struck a $32 billion deal for cybersecurity startup Wiz. Palo Alto Networks agreed to a $25 billion deal for CyberArk. And Salesforce struck an $8 billion deal for data-management software firm Informatica.

I’d love to know how much money is being burned on that hallucinating mess, and how many people were pushed out specifically “because of AI.” Sure, most cuts were really about offshoring, but some people absolutely were replaced in the name of AI, and the productivity expectations tied to it keep creeping up. It’s about time people noticed that, in most cases, AI just drains time and energy. Replace people? Good luck relying on a machine that can’t give you the same answer twice.

Are you reading the posts on this forum? Do you care about the health of this company? As a shareholder, I do. You don’t need to hire a multimillion dollar consulting firm to diagnose the situation and put a plan in place. A rational person and a little GenAI can summarize the themes for you

Key Themes
• Organizational instability: Employees cite constant reorganizations—often every six months—which has created fatigue, confusion, and a sense that structural decisions are being driven by short-term pressures rather than a long-term plan.
• Talent decisions undermining trust: There are repeated concerns that recent layoffs and promotions didn’t align with performance, with high performers cut while lower performers remained due to internal politics or legacy relationships.
• Leadership and HR gaps: Employees point to inconsistent leadership quality, slow or overly procedural HR processes, and communication missteps around sensitive changes. Some comments note ineffective leaders remaining in place despite clear issues.
• Burnout and morale decline: Workloads are heavy, career mobility feels limited, and many employees describe being exhausted and discouraged. Morale appears fragile, and trust in leadership is weakened.
• Impact on innovation: Several threads reference a shift from leading the market to following it. Internal volatility is viewed as slowing decision-making and diluting the creative culture that historically fueled Nike’s brand strength.

Implications
Left unaddressed, these issues create material risks: higher attrition among top performers, slower innovation cycles, reduced productivity, and a culture that becomes increasingly difficult to repair.

Recommendations for Consideration
• Stabilize the organization by pausing major reorgs and aligning on a multi-year structural plan.
• Audit recent layoffs and promotion decisions to rebuild confidence in fairness and performance alignment.
• Strengthen leadership accountability through clearer expectations and more rigorous capability reviews.
• Address burnout by examining workload models, spans of control, and internal mobility pathways.
• Recommit to innovation by protecting creative/product teams from ongoing churn and simplifying decision processes.

Nike’s external brand remains incredibly strong, but the internal signals point to a need for stability, clearer leadership alignment, and a renewed focus on innovation. Addressing these areas will help rebuild trust and set the foundation for long-term growth.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/style/robot-dogs-beeple-art-basel

I want to buy one

Quantum Corp. Sheds 1,500 Jobs Amid AI-Driven Restructuring

• TechCrunch
  Dec 3, 2025, 9:30 AM PT
• Quantum Corp., a leading innovator in AI, announced a significant reduction in its global workforce today, impacting approximately 1,500 employees. The company stated the layoffs are part of a strategic restructuring effort aimed at streamlining operations and shifting focus towards advanced AI development. This move follows a period of aggressive hiring but also increasing automation within its software and data departments. Affected employees will receive severance packages, outplacement services, and extended benefits. Analysts suggest this trend reflects a broader industry pattern where AI advancements are leading to efficiency gains at the cost of human jobs.
  https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/03/quantum-corp-layoffs-ai-restructuring/

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna argues that at current infrastructure and energy costs there is effectively no way for the current wave of AI data center spending to earn an adequate return. Using back-of-the-envelope math, he estimates about 80 billion dollars to build and fill a 1 gigawatt data center, implying around 8 trillion dollars in total commitments if the world builds roughly 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity.
• He says 8 trillion dollars of capex would require roughly 800 billion dollars of profit just to cover the cost of capital, and notes that AI chips depreciate over about five years, meaning they must be heavily utilized and then replaced, further straining economics.
• Krishna openly disagrees with Sam Altman’s belief that such spending will be paid back, framing it as a belief or bet rather than something he accepts.
• He is very skeptical that current large language model technology alone will reach AGI, putting the probability at only 0 to 1 percent without a new breakthrough. He thinks AGI will require additional technologies, such as combining LLMs with more structured or hard knowledge, and even then calls it only a “maybe.”
• Despite this, he is bullish on present-day AI, saying current tools can unlock trillions of dollars of productivity in enterprises, even if they fall short of true AGI.

• Oracle’s credit risk gauge on its debt closed at the highest level since 2009
• A surge in bond issuance from large tech companies helped trigger the move
• Investors are increasingly worried that the AI sector may be forming a bubble
• The cost of protecting Oracle’s debt against default rose to about 1.28 % a year
• This level is based on end of day credit derivative prices in New York
• It marks the highest cost of protection on Oracle’s debt since March 2009
• The price jumped nearly 0.03 % compared with the prior trading day
• The gauge has more than tripled from around 0.36 % in June
• Heavy funding activity by tech firms is adding pressure to credit markets
• Oracle is being viewed as more exposed to AI related volatility in investor sentiment
• The move fits into a broader rise in perceived credit stress for major tech issuers
• These shifts are intensifying doubts about how sustainable the AI driven expansion will be

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-02/oracle-credit-fear-gauge-hits-highest-since-2009-on-ai-bubble-fears

Because stupid people believe anything. Chucky and g2, d-mb and d-mber.

I’m so sick of the AI slop on Penny’s Page. Real interesting how all these em dashes started showing up after generative AI advanced. Disrespectful. Just stop posting instead of pretending we are all too stupid to notice.

How many employees did Basking Ridge office have before Nov 20th layoff?
According to AI, it houses 6000 people. What percentage of the total is the 1319 people they laid-off?
Just wondering, because I read about a WARN Notice investigation online.

https://straussborrelli.com/2025/11/25/verizon-new-jersey-warn-act-investigation/

https://www.malaysiasun.com/news/278725881/india-inc-sees-governance-as-top-priority-for-scaling-ai-infrastructure-ibm-study

"AI" mentioned 16 times in this 'article', it's like a "School Assignment" IBM puff piece

It’s all offshoring. Or, in some cases, cutting roles that are just gone forever while dumping the workload on fewer and fewer people. I really wish they’d stop excusing profit-maximizing cuts and offshoring by slapping an AI label on everything. It feels like gaslighting at the highest level.

https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1kaqkpf2t

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2025/11/24/in-the-future-well-all-be-bosses-and-have-100-artificial-assistants/

In the very near future, we’ll all be bosses, and we’ll have our own customized teams of AI agents automating processes that we manage, allowing us to accomplish much more than we currently personally do. At least, that’s the vision from OpenText, an information management company that claims 99 of the largest 100 companies on the planet as customers.

“There will be hundreds and perhaps thousands of bots being created by everybody in this audience,” chairman and chief strategy officer Tom Jenkins said at the company’s conference in Nashville last week. "Everyone is going to be building their own little AIs.”

• 350000 employees (100000 low perf, 150000 med perf, 70000 high perf, 30000 exceeds perf) + AI
• 250000 employees (20000 medium perf, 170000 high perf, 60000 exceeds perf) + AI
• 200000 employees (20000 medium perf, 90000 high perf, 90000 exceeds perf) + AI

T-Mobile announces 15 minute switching from other carriers by using AI.

On the dais are Srini and Katz.

From Insider Trading reports...Michael Katz sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.91, for a total value of $539,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 156,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,725,789.73.

Nothing criminal about an insider dumping stock prior to a "major" announcement, is there?

Anyone versed in artificial intelligence can fairly easily train AI to create power point slides, Excel spreadsheet s, create budgets, and even sit in on meeting calls take notes and parrot back to worker bees.

The real work is done by these so called "leader's" staff.

What say you; are you in agreement?

If you want an idea of how well of a job AI will do, look what it did to ACSS. It took an already terrible system and managed to make it worse. The loading/buffering is unbelievable. A parent AYS ticket has been open for 3 months with no resolution. Hundreds of comments on the Impact Zone post.

Published 11/17/2025, 06:56 PM

https://www.investing.com/news/swot-analysis/five9s-swot-analysis-cloud-contact-center-stock-navigates-ai-transition-93CH-4363981

Some tone deaf people are posting non stop on LinkedIn as if it’s BAU..
stfu.. you might be on the list as well.. just be quiet for sometime. I do not want to hear about your AI conferences.

"The update came just a few days after IBM disclosed similar job cuts. [...] He points to IBM as an example: the company cut 8,000 HR and admin positions while hiring engineers and salespeople. “That tells you where they think value lives now. Routine work gets automated. Complex work stays human.”" https://nearshoreamericas.com/u-s-layoffs-surge-and-blaming-ai-is-part-of-the-smokescreen/

AI bubble deflating

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/peter-thiel-dumps-top-ai-143300737.html