Summary of Key Points
The tech industry in 2026 has shown a clear divide due to AI: on one hand, corporate CEOs are overly reliant on the efficiency of AI, blindly replacing employees with it (even firing people without understanding their roles), leading to waves of layoffs; on the other hand, users are turning away from AI due to errors and poor experiences, with usage of services like DuckDuckGo surging by 30%. While AI has created new business opportunities such as driverless car rental, anti-Amazon logistics, and computing power leasing, it also brings hidden costs, including employee burnout and uncertainty in expenses.
Detailed Analysis
The Divide Between Users and Enterprises
- User Perspective: "If AI doesn’t work well, can I just leave?" After Google incorporated AI into its search engine, it even got the number of letters in its own name wrong (claiming there were two P’s when there aren’t any). Users want accurate information, not AI-assisted tasks like booking flights. As a result, they switched to DuckDuckGo, which clearly states that its AI features are separate from the core search function, resulting in a 30% increase in downloads.
- Enterprise Perspective: "AI makes tasks 100 times more efficient? Then we need to cut staff!" The project management software ClickUp laid off 22% of its employees within a week. The CEO’s rationale was straightforward: "AI agents are 100 times more efficient than humans, and we already have 3,000 of them." General Motors went even further, laying off IT staff and hiring many new employees with AI expertise—this wasn’t just downsizing; it was a strategic shift to replace traditional roles with those skilled in using AI.
The "AI Psychosis" of CEOs
Aaron Levie, founder of Box, coined the term "CEO AI psychosis," referring to the phenomenon where the very people who decide whether employees will be replaced by AI are often the least knowledgeable about their work. These executives make decisions based on abstract reports (e.g., claiming 100% efficiency improvements) without actually using AI themselves or understanding the practical challenges faced by their staff.
New Business Opportunities Created by AI
Despite the divide, AI has also given rise to several new businesses:
- Driverless Car Rental: Waymo’s new Ojai model is designed for autonomous driving, with automatically opening doors and ample interior space. Services have been launched in Phoenix and Los Angeles, with plans to deploy tens of thousands of vehicles. However, challenges exist, such as service interruptions due to flooding and recalls.
- Stord vs. Amazon: Stord offers logistics services similar to Amazon’s but allows merchants to retain customer data, attracting $3 billion in funding and targeting the anti-Amazon market.
- Computing Power Leasing: Snowflake signed a deal with AWS for computing power, abandoning NVIDIA GPUs in favor of AWS’ own CPUs, which are better suited for AI agents. Even SpaceX is involved in leasing computing resources—revenue from this business is now higher than from developing AI models.
- Model Gateways: OpenRouter allows users to use multiple AI models simultaneously, choosing the most suitable one for their needs without being locked into a single provider (similar to the gold rush era’s “shovel sales”). It raised $113 million in funding but may need to transform if only a few giants remain in the AI model market.
Hidden Costs of AI-Laidoff Waves
Layoffs don’t solely involve cost savings; there are other overlooked consequences:
- Employee Burnout: Laying off 22% of employees means the remaining 78% have to handle more work. For example, Uber’s use of AI reduced product release times by half, but it increased employee stress significantly.
- Uncertain AI Costs: Companies cut staff not only because of efficiency gains but also due to the high costs associated with AI (computing power and model licensing). ClickUp’s layoffs were partly due to the high cost of AI tools, leaving it unable to sustain its workforce.
Changes in the Search Industry
User dissatisfaction with AI has turned into new business opportunities:
- DuckDuckGo’s Anti-AI Strategy: The search engine, which previously tried to integrate AI, now emphasizes that its core function is unaffected by AI, leading to a 30% increase in downloads. Users prefer reliable, error-free searches.
- Human-Created Content: An online testing company found that users disliked AI-generated content and started labeling its tests as “human-made,” which attracted more users. This shift from automated to human-created content has become a selling point.
Conclusion
AI is not a panacea; it brings both opportunities and divisions. Companies should avoid making hasty decisions based on abstract reports and instead test AI in practical applications to understand its limitations. Users should also adopt a more cautious approach, recognizing that while AI can be useful, it doesn’t always solve all problems.
(End of the analysis)