Block, the payments company, announced plans to lay off almost half its workforce, with CEO Jack Dorsey attributing the move to AI changing what it means to build and run a company.
Where this was said
At 7:49 · chapter starts 6:35
With government data inadequate, economists have turned to private-sector sources — ADP payroll data, LinkedIn job postings, Indeed hiring trends — to try to track AI's labor market impact in real time. The problem, Castleman explains, is that they're all telling different stories. Two serious economists, using careful methods and good data, can look at the same labor market and reach polar-opposite conclusions: one finding that entry-level workers in AI-exposed occupations are already losing jobs (the canary-in-the-coal-mine signal), the other finding that companies adopting AI most aggressively are hiring more people, not fewer. Castleman acknowledges this isn't entirely surprising given how fast the field is moving, but it means that anyone claiming certainty about what AI is doing to jobs right now is overreaching. [1] — Ben Castleman "Credible economists using private-sector data from ADP, LinkedIn, and Indeed are reaching polar-opposite conclusions about AI's job impact.…" 06:10
Amazon announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs worldwide, with the company citing AI as a driver of the decision.
Investors are rewarding companies that make big AI claims, so CEOs who overhired and need to cut have a powerful incentive to frame layoffs as AI-driven productivity gains rather than management errors. Economists are deeply skeptical of headline AI layoff announcements.
Economists are skeptical of CEOs citing AI for layoffs because companies are rewarded by investors for AI-related announcements, giving executives a financial incentive to use AI as cover for decisions made for other reasons.
Sam built Algrow from zero to $14,000 in monthly revenue within just six months of shipping his first MVP.
Algrow reached over 10,000 users in roughly six months, driven almost entirely by organic Discord community growth.
Sam acquired his first 400 users entirely through Discord communities, without paid advertising or traditional outreach.
Algrow added exactly 480 new paying customers in its most recent month, demonstrating strong ongoing growth.
Sam's Stripe dashboard showed over £10,000 in revenue in the last four weeks, equivalent to roughly $13,000–$14,000 USD.
Sam gave all early users free access so they could show the tool to friends, turning them into live demos and advocates who helped the product spread virally.
By silently screen-sharing his tool in Discord voice chats rather than posting links, Sam attracted curiosity without violating no-self-promo server rules.
Before building Algrow, Sam and two friends made over $10,000 in revenue through affiliate marketing for RizzApp by posting faceless texting story content.
Bhanu grew SiteGPT to $13,000 monthly recurring revenue entirely through organic channels, spending nothing on paid marketing.
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