If LLMs really multiply productivity, why would you fire people and handicap the boost?

I have 100 people that can now do the work of 200 people thanks to a new tool.

How is the logical response to fire half of them and bring my productivity back to where it was before?

Because there isn't an unlimited amount of productive work to be done. Sure, a bowling ball factory in a world that demands unlimited bowling balls should take the productivity multiplier AND retain the employees, because they ought to make all the bowling balls they possibly can.

But CashApp jira tickets are not a bowling ball factory in a world with unlimited bowling ball demand. At a certain point, you're just paying people to sit around, or even worse, pretend they're busy.

That’s my point. The letter claims this is a decision made for the purpose of growth, which makes no sense.

This is admitting the company is in maintenance mode at best

> If LLMs really multiply productivity, why would you fire people and handicap the boost?

Presumably, because some of these areas are cost centers versus profit generating.

He explains the rationale, smaller teams work faster.

we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly.

This is just rephrasing the same concept.

Claiming than a small group with AI can accomplish more than a large group with AI doesn’t make sense.

More likely the company doesn’t have enough work for the large group.

Have you worked at a big company? It makes sense to me that a small group would be much more productive than a large group, even without AI. Throw in some AI help, and it could be much better.

> It makes sense to me that a small group would be much more productive than a large group

That's not the scenario. The scenario is a large group vs a large group cut into a small group.

The chaos and disruption of slicing 1/2 the company would more than offset any gains. We got people. Not machines. Not everyone adapts so fast. Team work and efficiencies take time.

I do see fewer Square terminals these days, more Toast (and other options too I think).

He’s been building tech companies for 20 years, he sure knew smaller teams move faster when he was hiring thousands of more people during covid

Demand inelasticity.

> our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers

I would say the vast majority of people in this thread don't believe that this is related to AI at all, other than as a pretext. It's kind of incredible.

As in AI is a belief? This isn't a religion. IF things don't add up they don't.