IBM CEO: AI Isn't Killing Jobs
Everyone is blaming AI for tech layoffs. IBM's CEO says they're wrong. The real culprit? A three year hiring binge that turned the pandemic into the industry's biggest hangover.
📰 The Rundown
IBM CEO: AI Isn't Killing Jobs, Pandemic Over-Hiring Is
➡️ The move: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is pushing back against the narrative that AI is behind tech industry layoffs. In recent interviews, Krishna called current job cuts a "natural correction" after companies "gorged on employment" between 2020 and 2023. He estimates AI displacement will hit around 10 percent of jobs over the next few years, not the 30 to 40 percent that headlines suggest.
⚡ Why it matters: This is the clearest counter-narrative from a major tech CEO to the "AI is taking all the jobs" panic. Yes, IBM did use AI agents to replace several hundred HR positions. But Krishna says total employment actually grew as those savings funded new roles in software engineering, sales, and marketing. The jobs are shifting, not disappearing.
🎯 Your takeaway: If your company is restructuring, AI makes a convenient scapegoat. But the real question isn't whether AI will change your job. It's whether you're building the skills to be on the right side of where the work is moving.
OpenAI Declares "Code Red" Over Google Competition
➡️ The move: OpenAI has reportedly instituted a "code red" internally in response to intensifying competition from Google's Gemini 3 and Anthropic's Claude. According to The Verge, CEO Sam Altman told staff the company will pause planned initiatives around advertising, shopping features, health agents, and a personal assistant codenamed Pulse. All focus shifts to improving ChatGPT's speed, reliability, and personalization.
⚡ Why it matters: The roles have reversed. When ChatGPT launched three years ago, Google declared its own code red. Now OpenAI is playing defense. Google's Gemini 3 and experimental tools are outpacing rivals on several benchmarks. For the first time since ChatGPT's debut, the AI leader looks vulnerable.
🎯 Your takeaway: Competition is good for users. Expect faster improvements, better features, and possibly lower prices as the AI giants fight for your attention. The best time to experiment with multiple AI tools is now.
🌍 UN Warns AI Could Widen Global Inequality
➡️ The move: A new UN Development Programme report titled "The Next Great Divergence" warns that AI could reverse decades of progress that helped poorer countries catch up economically. Wealthier nations are racing ahead on AI infrastructure, talent, and data while many developing countries lack basic digital capacity.
⚡ Why it matters: If AI productivity gains concentrate in a handful of countries, the report argues, it could fuel migration pressures, social unrest, and geopolitical tension. The concern extends beyond economics to who shapes AI standards, who controls data flows, and whose priorities get built into AI systems.
🎯 Your takeaway: Global AI inequality will eventually affect everyone through supply chains, talent markets, and regulatory fragmentation. Organizations with international operations should watch how different regions approach AI adoption and governance.
🔧 Tool Spotlight: Granola
Granola is the AI meeting notes app that VCs and startup founders can't stop talking about. Unlike tools that join your call as a bot, Granola runs silently in the background on your Mac or Windows machine, capturing audio directly from your device.
What makes it different: You take notes during the meeting like normal. When the call ends, Granola enhances your notes with context from the transcript, turning your rough bullet points into structured summaries with action items. It's a hybrid approach that keeps you engaged during meetings instead of passively letting AI do everything.
Key features:
- 29 meeting note templates for different contexts (sales calls, interviews, standups)
- Chat with your notes to find specific details across all your meetings
- Integrates with Slack, HubSpot, Notion, and Zapier
- Works across Mac, Windows, and iPhone
Best for: Anyone in back to back meetings who wants better notes without the awkwardness of a bot announcing itself.
Pricing: Free tier with limited note history. Pro at $18/month for unlimited notes and integrations.
👉 Try it: Download from granola.ai
✨ Try This Today: The Perspective Flip
Most people use AI to help with their own work. But AI becomes more valuable when you use it to stress test that work before anyone else sees it.
The technique: Before sending an important document, email, or proposal, ask AI to critique it from a specific person's perspective. Not generic feedback. Targeted pushback from someone who matters.
How to use it:
- Paste your draft into ChatGPT or Claude
- Prompt: "Review this as if you were [specific role]. What concerns would you have? What questions would you ask? What's missing?"
- Address the gaps before you send
Example prompts:
- "Read this proposal as a skeptical CFO. Where would you push back on the budget?"
- "Review this email as the recipient who's already annoyed with our team. How does this land?"
- "Critique this presentation as my biggest competitor. What weaknesses would you exploit?"
Why it works: You've been staring at your work too long. You can't see the holes. AI can simulate fresh eyes from any angle in seconds. The feedback isn't always right, but it catches the obvious gaps you've gone blind to.
Time required: 3 minutes per perspective. Run 2-3 different viewpoints for high-stakes deliverables.
✨ The Wire
🔗 AWS re:Invent continues in Las Vegas with launches including Trainium3 AI chips, Nova 2 models, and "frontier agents" that can work autonomously for days on complex tasks. Amazon
🔗 Nvidia invested $2 billion in chip design software company Synopsys, tightening its grip on the end to end AI hardware stack. TechCrunch
🔗 MIT neuroscientists found surprising parallels between how humans and new AI models solve complex problems, with both using modular "cognitive blocks" that transfer across tasks. MIT News
Neural Notes — AI that amplifies your value, not replaces it.
