The Narrows

Something odd is happening in the tech world right now: the technology that was supposed to make human labour obsolete is, at this moment, more expensive than the humans it was meant to replace. Companies are laying off workers to fund the very AI tools that cost more than the workers they just let go. The circular logic of it would be darkly comic if tens of thousands of livelihoods weren't caught in the middle.

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The stated rationale is consistent: operational efficiency, reallocation toward AI. But the MIT study found that AI automation is economically viable in only about 23 percent of roles. For the remaining 77 percent, humans remain cheaper. Goldman Sachs' chief economist has stated plainly that he does not view AI investment as strongly growth-positive. Sequoia Capital partner David Cahn has put a number on the resulting gap: AI companies need roughly $600 billion in annual revenue to justify current infrastructure spending. The gap, as of mid-2026, is widening, not closing. So the present moment looks like this: companies cutting human labour to fund artificial intelligence that currently costs more than the labour it replaces, in pursuit of productivity gains that most studies cannot yet verify, at a pace that is exhausting annual budgets in weeks.

mutual 1: i have to quit my job

mutual 2: i have to quit my job

mutual 3: i have to quit my job

mutual 4: i have to quit my job

mutual 5: i have to quit my job

mutual 6: i have to quit my job

mutual 7: i have to quit my job

mutual 8: need to peel him like a banana

mutual 9: i have to quit my job

Brother Gregor is four five shrews tall