The people we left behind: Tech layoffs, AI hype, and a misplaced future

If you opened a tech newsletter or even the internet in early 2026 and thought you’d stepped into a dystopian screenplay, or you are the main character in one of Isaac Asimov’s writings, you wouldn’t be alone.

Headlines trumpet layoffs, companies blame “AI transformation,” and somewhere in the background, billionaires cheer hot-off-the-press artificial intelligence strategies. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: people are still losing their jobs, while AI gets most of the credit.

According to the most recent tracking data, the pace of layoffs in tech remains high in 2026. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that U.S. employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January 2026, the strongest January for layoffs since 2009, and more than double the total from the same month a year earlier

Let’s put some names to these numbers because real humans were behind them.

In late January 2026 ...