IMO AI is a bubble and it will burst in the next year or two. We use AI at work and there are benefits, but I do not believe AI will be replacing anyone other than the absolute bottom of the talent pool. It’s mostly going to accelerate the productivity of developers (creating more value for the company with no increase in wages for you, of course).

Mass layoffs happen every couple years in the software world. One of Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Oracle, etc. will do layoffs and the rest will do it too “because market conditions”. They’ll then rehire that many people 6 months later. It’s a tool they use to clean out lower performers and replace them without having to go through the arduous process of firing someone for performance reasons. The US economy is going to shit right now, so that’s giving them an excuse to do it; it’s not a sign that the software industry is in trouble.