PLUS: AI reshapes labour markets and mass layoffs spook white collar workers

“To tell the truth is an act of love. To withhold the truth is an act of hate. Or worse, apathy.” - Gene Kim

Afternoon All,

From now on in 2026 and beyond, if you can only tell me what I want to hear and not what I need to hear, you either hate me, or you're AI. You might be both. AI use is growing faster than any other technology in history. If you believe the captains of industry driving AI, we're soon going to be living in a capitalist utopia. One where companies thrive on efficiency, without the inconvenience of human interactions. Your new colleague, career coach or mentor might just be an AI chatbot. With that increased use comes increased exposure to a major flaw in the system - AI's need to please.

Will AI really make us smarter and take us forward if it never challenges what we say or do? Can we ever tap into AI's full potential if it only ever reinforces our opinions?

Today's dots:

• The hard truth about AI at work - It will lie to you.
• Workplace AI adoption reveals growing divide
• Labour markets reshaped by 'no-hire, no-fire' trend
• Mass layoffs have white collar employees freaked out
• Personal journey with AI fitness tools

The hard truth about AI at work?

Here's the thing: According to recent reports, employees are turning to chatbots to act as friends and career coaches. Doing so poses multiple problems for companies and their employees. Not only do they lose the benefit of exchanging “tacit and informal knowledge”, they also become used to receving sycophantic feedback from their chatbot of choice.

Let's unpack that:

• According to business psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of Don’t Be Yourself, current coaching techniques are quite sycophantic. “between telling a client what they want to hear and need to hear, [they] often opt for the ego-enhancing story”.
• Real wages/salaries haven't increased relative to cost of living for a long time and without that monetary stamp of approval, people look for validation in other places.
• A whole host of AI coaching companies are more than willing to seize on this tendency by offering positive validation to workers.
• Anyone who has used a ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude will know that all questions are great and all thoughts insightful. I don’t know about you, but...that seems unrealistic.

If you remember nothing else: Kim Scott, author of Radical Candour, has written, AI will only be useful if it “will sometimes challenge your assumptions or suggest improvements”. Even if you work for a boss or company that doesn't give feedback, if your AI companion doesn't give you honest feedback and only reinforces your ideas, it might not be helping as much as you think.

Workplace AI Adoption Hits 49% - But Leaders See Troubling Divide

Here's the thing: Daily AI use at work has doubled since 2023 with 12% of employees now using it daily, while nearly half (49%) avoid it completely - creating a growing productivity divide between power users and non-adopters according to Gallup's latest workforce survey.

Let's unpack that:

• Adoption accelerated fastest in remote-capable roles, where frequent AI use surged from 13% to 40% since 2023 compared to just 17% in hands-on roles (think warehouse staff versus accountants)
• Tech dominates with 57% of workers using AI weekly - while retail (19%) and manufacturing (32%) lag, creating widening performance gaps between industries
• The leadership paradox: 69% of executives use AI weekly while only 23% of frontline staff do - yet 45% of leaders believe companies benefit more than workers from AI adoption
• Financial services saw the biggest Q4 gains (+6%), suggesting AI delivers clearest ROI in data-heavy, analysis-driven workflows
• Gallup's researcher warning: Organisations must develop role-specific AI playbooks rather than generic rollouts to bridge adoption gaps

If you remember nothing else: AI's productivity boost only materialises when adoption spreads beyond leadership circles. The companies winning will be those democratising AI's benefits through tailored training for different roles - not just deploying tools for tech-savvy staff.

Why AI Created the 'No-Hire, No-Fire' Labour Market

Here's the thing: Companies are freezing hiring while avoiding mass layoffs, thanks to AI tools handling 70% of routine tasks like customer service queries. This paradoxical trend is reshaping labour markets globally.

Let's unpack that:

• US hiring rates have plunged to decade-long lows according to Federal Reserve data - but unemployment remains stable at just 4.4%
• AI tools now resolve 70% of basic support queries, letting companies like Hubstaff grow without adding customer service staff since 2024
• The Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book report confirms widespread employer caution about ‘AI-driven efficiency gains’ reducing hiring needs
• Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky notes AI both reduces staffing needs while boosting growth potential - effectively cancelling out workforce impacts
• Higher interest rates and post-pandemic hiring adjustments are compounding the freeze

If you remember nothing else: This efficiency boom creates brutal conditions for job seekers right now - but don’t confuse temporary market cooling with long-term workforce disruption. Businesses gaining AI leverage today will likely drive tomorrow’s job creation in new categories.

Mass layoffs and AI have white-collar workers spooked.

Here's the thing: Fear about losing their job is increasing anxiety in white collar professionals...and it's all the fault of AI. According to a survey by the Fed, employees with an undergrad degree or higher believe there is a 15.2% chance of them losing or leaving their job in the next year.

Let's unpack that:

• A survey by Cengage Group found that only 30% of 2025 graduates had found a full-time job in their field by July, compared to 41% of the previous year’s class
• At a conference in June, Ford CEO Jim Farley told the audience “literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.” will be replaced by AI.
• This might drive more profits but where does it leave us humans?
• Whether you’re searching for a new job or holding onto an old one, maybe it's time to try a few extra ways to make a little more money: improve your financial literacy, build an emergency fund, consider a side hustle, invest in job skills

If you remember nothing else: If you're in a knowledge based profession then the AI threat to your job is very real. But, you are not helpless and there are plenty of things still within your control.

AI Gets You Moving – But Listen to Your Body

Here's the thing: A personal experiment with AI fitness apps saved 20+ weekly planning hours but revealed a crucial limit – AI crunches schedules brilliantly while struggling with bodily nuance. (Full experience here)

Let's unpack that:

• These tools analyse patterns (sleep, stress, activity) to suggest genuinely adaptive routines - like swapping HIIT for yoga when your energy crashes
• Schedule optimisation is their superpower: one user got back 1 extra rest day weekly without sacrificing progress by following Apple Fitness+ adaptations
• The catch? They can't interpret 'off days' caused by hormones or intuition - you'll still need to override generic "push harder!" nudges
• Virtual trainers shine at removing friction: audio-guided runs and celeb-led walking sessions made consistency feel effortless
• After 6 months, the real win wasn't just fitness gains - it was relearning to trust bodily signals with data-backed context

If you remember nothing else: AI fitness tools excel as scheduling co-pilots, not body whisperers. The future lies in hybrid systems that merge algorithmic efficiency with human self-awareness - your best coach might be AI-powered, but you still need to be the captain.

The Shortlist

Meet "Amelia", an AI-generated character co-opted by far-right groups. What started as a UK government counter-extremism tool is now a meme wildfire racking 10K+ daily posts on X - complete with racist caricatures and a bizarre AI-powered cryptocurrency scheme.

Data center giants like Digital Realty and QTS are mounting a PR counteroffensive against AI's energy backlash with plans to "amplify the good" - but local protests halted 25+ US projects in January alone. Can lobbying overcome 112% energy cost spikes tied to AI clusters?

AGD™ emerges as a neurosymbolic alternative to pure deep learning. Klover.ai's 'Artificial General Decision' framework claims 40% faster crisis response times by blending neural networks with structured reasoning - but can it outpace Google's Gemini/DeepMind fusion?