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A TechCrunch article questions whether recent company layoffs are genuinely due to AI efficiencies or merely an excuse to mask other issues, a trend dubbed 'AI-washing'. This phenomenon is highlighted by companies citing AI for cuts while lacking mature AI applications to justify them.
AI 生成摘要
TechCrunch的文章探討了近期公司裁員是否真正源於AI效率提升，或是僅為掩蓋其他問題的藉口，這種現象被稱為「AI漂白」。文章指出，許多公司將裁員歸因於AI，但實際上並未具備成熟的AI應用來證明其合理性。
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Posted:
How many of the companies with recent layoffs are truly adapting their workforces to the efficiencies and challenges of artificial intelligence? And how many of them were just using AI as an excuse to cover other problems?
That’s the question posed by a New York Times article on the trend of “AI-washing,” where companies will cite AI as the reason for layoffs that might actually be caused by other factors, like over-hiring during the pandemic.
AI was the stated reason for more than 50,000 layoffs in 2025, with Amazon and Pinterest among the tech companies who blamed the technology for recent cuts.
But a Forrester report published in January argued, “Many companies announcing A.I.-related layoffs do not have mature, vetted A.I. applications ready to fill those roles, highlighting a trend of ‘A.I.-washing’ — attributing financially motivated cuts to future A.I. implementation.”
Molly Kinder, a senior research fellow at the Brookings Institute, noted that saying layoffs were caused by AI is a “very investor-friendly message,” especially when the alternative might mean admitting, “The business is ailing.”
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