#ai-impact

#ai-impact

2025's words of the year reflect a generation frustrated with job prospects, AI, and online culture. Platforms have chosen terms like "fatigue," "AI slop," and "rage bait." For the first time, Dictionary.com chose a word that is also a number as its Word of the Year. Everyone is over 2025. Various platforms and dictionaries released their word of the year in December, and the choices widely reflect a sense of inescapable uncertainty, exhaustion, and skepticism of the tech world.

The median base salary for HBS's 2025 graduates rose to $184,500, up from $175,000 the year before. Of the 65% of the class seeking employment, 90% received at least one job offer within three months of graduation, and 84% accepted-both improvements from the classes of 2024 and 2023. Data from PayScale, analyzed by Poets & Quants, estimates the median lifetime income of an HBS graduate at over $8.5 million.

The chief executive has a front-row seat to how AI will shake up the world; last month, Google rolled out its latest model, Gemini 3, and received critical appraise. The innovation-seen as an improvement from Gemini 2.5 released around eight months ago- ignited optimism among investors and analysts, who heralded the chatbot as their "favorite model generally available today." As the technology continues to advance, Pichai emphasized it'll create new opportunities, while also admitting some roles will be phased out.

Many of us have heard of "boomerang employees"-someone who leaves a company and later returns-but there's a newer version showing up in the workplace: the layoff boomerang. Maybe you've seen it yourself. A coworker disappears after a round of cuts, only to show up again a few months later. Same desk. Same job. Sometimes even a bigger paycheck.

The cybersecurity landscape is a dynamic arena in which innovation and threats evolve relentlessly. ISACA's State of Cybersecurity 2025 report - drawing insights from more than 3,800 professionals worldwide - offers a critical snapshot of this environment. It highlights persistent staffing shortages, the transformative impact of AI, rising stress levels and constrained budgets. Together, these findings underscore the delicate balance organizations must strike between technology, talent and well-being.

The Forecasting Research Institute (FRI) has published a report [PDF] titled "The Longitudinal Expert AI Panel" that attempts to distill the forecasts of knowledgeable folk - mainly men - in industry, academia, and policy about the capabilities, adoption, and impact of AI in the years ahead. The research project, led by Ezra Karger, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, suggests that few AI experts believe "superintelligence" as outlined by the likes of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei will arrive anytime soon.

Reddit announced earnings late last week and it boggles me how people love this stock. I am not a financial expert of analysis but Reddit has been saying for some time that 50% of its traffic comes from Google Search. Reddit also said on this Q3 earnings call that its search traffic is flat and that AI is not a traffic driver, at least not yet.

By the numbers: Confidence dipped one point from the previous quarter, to 48, per the report from the Conference Board, a nonpartisan think tank and the Business Council, an association of CEOs. A number below 50 reflects more negative than positive responses. 64% of CEOs said that they are preparing for a mild economic slowdown with slightly increased inflation pressure - a one-two punch known as stagflation. Only 22% said they were preparing for a "balanced economy with trend growth and gradual reduction in inflation pressure."

The tech hiring market is being pulled in two directions: a flood of candidates for certain roles and stark shortages in others. New survey data from Indeed highlights the unevenness of the tech talent landscape and the profound impact of AI on reshaping the skills employers need most. While many tech jobs attract an oversupply of applicants, the study found that key areas, such as cloud computing, data analytics, and AI development, are still starved for qualified professionals.

The percentage of companies led by co-CEOs hasn't changed much over the past five years, data firm Equilar found. It hovers around 1.2% of the Russell 3000 index, a broad measure of the US stock market. Yet more companies could adopt this structure, even temporarily, as forces like AI create a dizzying pace of change for leaders and prompt companies to rethink operations.

I don't think we've necessarily seen a material change in the cadence of budget flow ... There's definitely shifts and changes - tariffs impact auto, tariffs impact everything. So as macro changes happen, that definitely has an impact on individual marketing plans. But I don't think it's materially - year-over-year - vastly different from where it was before.

In 2025, attracting top developers is more challenging than ever. A competitive pay package is table stakes, remote flexibility is expected, and AI is reshaping how teams operate and what engineers value. College isn't necessary for big tech jobs SignalFire's data reveals a new reality: a handful of companies have cracked the code to build cultures where top engineers flock to, stay, grow, and multiply their impact. These outliers have achieved something rare: both high talent density and high retention, at scale.

AI is impacting engineering hiring by leading to significant layoffs, reduced hiring, and a shift toward relying on seasoned developers, sidelining junior engineers in the process.

Microsoft is potentially set to experience a significant rise in profitability over the coming years, driven by AI-enabled cost reductions and enhanced AI-based product offerings.

Instead of replacing workers, organizations are finding real gains from "replacing BPOs [business process outsourcing] and external agencies, not cutting internal staff."

Kanika Mohan's journey illustrates the challenges faced by tech graduates amidst a hiring slowdown, highlighting the need to broaden job searches beyond traditional tech roles.

Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry.

Jobs and Skills Australia's report indicates that generative AI will significantly automate routine clerical jobs while enhancing roles requiring high skill levels.

AI tools can enhance efficiency by handling repetitive tasks, but overreliance can dull personal skills and creativity, making professionals easier to replace.

If a self-directed, virtual, or hybrid work schedule is essential for you to manage your career aspirations and life challenges, you will have a difficult time aligning your priorities with those of the company and the culture we aim to establish.

Human-made content will remain crucial as consumer information sources, with human expression increasingly valued amid the rise of AI-generated outputs.

Participants with the strongest, most distributed neural networks (i.e., they used more of their brain) didn't use technology. The more technology participants used, the less they used their brains.

74% of Orange County workers are satisfied with their work. 52% of workers desire a hybrid work schedule most or all of the time. 71% of workers find AI helpful, with 57% saying it makes them more productive.

Employers across the U.S. announced 62,075 job cuts in July, a 29% increase from June and a 140% surge over July 2024, ending the typical midsummer lull.

Maximizing leads to less happiness, as constantly seeking the best option increases regret and dissatisfaction. Too many choices create decision fatigue, reducing contentment.