Ex-Block Employees Doubt AI Can Replace Their Jobs
Following mass layoffs at Block, former and current employees are pushing back on the narrative that AI can replace their work. They argue that many compliance, operational, and customer-facing roles require human nuance and contextual judgment that current AI can't replicate.
Block's CEO, Jack Dorsey, justified the layoff of approximately 4,000 employees by citing significant advancements in AI productivity. He communicated to shareholders that a "significantly smaller team, using the tools we're building, can do more and do it better." The move will reduce the company's workforce by nearly half, from over 10,000 to just under 6,000 people. Despite the massive cuts, Dorsey asserted that the decision was not due to financial distress, pointing to Block's growing gross profit. Wall Street reacted positively to the news, with Block's stock surging as much as 24% after the announcement. This reflects investor optimism about the potential for cost savings and increased efficiency driven by AI. However, some analysts and former employees have labeled the move "AI washing," suggesting the technology is a convenient explanation for traditional corporate downsizing possibly due to over-hiring during the pandemic. Block's workforce had grown from about 3,800 in 2019 to over 10,000 in 2025. Current and former workers argue that AI is not yet capable of replacing their roles entirely. For instance, one software engineer noted that about 95% of AI-generated code changes still required human intervention to meet company standards. Internally, there had been a growing emphasis on using AI, which shifted from encouragement to a requirement in the nine months leading up to the layoffs. The company was reportedly monitoring employee usage of specific AI tools, and performance evaluations included questions about AI proficiency. Some employees felt they were tasked with training the very systems that would replace them, teaching the company how to automate them out of a job. One data scientist who survived the layoffs resigned, citing "immense dread and survivor's guilt" and describing the forced use of AI as "dystopian." The company has invested in its own internal AI tools, such as one named "Goose." Executives claim these tools have already led to a more than 40% increase in production code shipped per engineer since September.
