Creators Out: The AI Revolution in Big Tech Began with Programmer Layoffs (3 photos)
For a long time, there was a widespread belief that AI would destroy frontline workers like secretaries, accountants, and call center workers. However, statistics from the first half of 2026 have dramatically changed this. 
But instead of laying off secretaries and assistants, an act of technological cannibalism has occurred. IT giants have begun to shed the code creators in favor of the code itself. Those who yesterday dreamed of relocating to the Valley are now frantically updating their resumes, realizing that the "golden IT" bubble has burst with a deafening bang.
According to Layoffs.fyi, of the 73,000 employees laid off from Big Tech since the beginning of the year, the majority were highly qualified engineers and systems architects.
The cynicism of the situation lies in the fact that it was these white-collar workers who single-handedly trained the models that now make their presence in the office redundant. Companies like Oracle, which cut 30,000 people (18% of its workforce), clearly demonstrate that optimization algorithms can now handle jobs that once required an army of engineers. 
Meta and Microsoft have switched to a strategy of "one talented production engineer instead of a development department." AI assistants write, test, and deploy code faster and cheaper than humans, without demanding stock options, free lattes, or minority rights rallies.
The main reason for layoffs in 2026 isn't the economic downturn, but the monstrous cost of maintaining AI. Maintaining neural networks (called inference) requires enough electricity to power a small country.
Corporations are essentially choosing between the salary of a leading engineer and paying the energy bills for a cluster of video cards. The freed-up billions of dollars are being converted into the construction of new power units and the purchase of chips. Simply put, IT workers are being forced into "digital canned goods" to pay their electricity bills.
While Big Tech builds gigantic data centers, the architects of these systems are having to adjust to a new reality: they are no longer the company's core asset, but simply a cost item that has been successfully optimized.
