^{CHITTER CHATTER}

Blaming AI For Job Cuts Continues
Last week, we introduced a new tech term, AI Washing, using AI as the excuse to get rid of employees. You can read more about it in this article, which says, “Beyond presenting a more favorable narrative, AI-washed explanations protect leaders from reputational damage from broader organizational failures. It’s easier to say AI is changing the way the world works and workforce reductions are a natural consequence than to admit they misread demand, overspent on AI pilots, or, more simply, hit hard times.”

Watch this video that backs up AI-washing claims, while the Guardian reveals that a weak crypto market, overstaffing, and a declining stock price are more at play in Jack Dorsey's decision to slash 40% of Block’s workforce. Tellingly, a Block employee quit after being offered a generous retention package, and commented she’s seen “very limited gains in productivity” from AI.

Meta Exposes Your Intimate Moments
Meta sold smart glasses as “designed for privacy,” which is bold when subcontractors in Kenya were reportedly reviewing footage featuring nudity, sex and toilet trips. Apparently, “controlled by you” did not include opting out. Now Meta and Luxottica are being sued over privacy claims. Seven million pairs sold, intimate footage in the pipeline, and a regulator sniffing around. Just another flawless tech triumph in wearable surveillance. What is this communicating? People have little privacy, but now your private bits may be exposed too. From a PR and revenue-making perspective, it’s a nightmare and another bad look for Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Be Rude For Better Results
Good manners may be wasted on your preferred AI. A Cornell University study found that rude prompts slightly outperformed polite ones in ChatGPT-4o tests, which is bleak news for anyone still saying “please” to the machine. Researchers tested the same questions in tones ranging from very polite to very rude and found the bluntest prompts performed best. Accuracy rose as politeness dropped: very polite prompts scored lowest, neutral and rude did better, and very rude came out on top. So the takeaway is: being nice to AI may actually make it less accurate. Scroll down to the ‘They Said What?’ segment to find out what Sergey Brin, Google cofounder, says about this.

^SUBTEXT

The Waffle: “The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company”… “A significantly smaller team using the tools we’re building can do more and do it better.” — Jack Dorsey on Block’s layoffs.

Translated: “AI has finally delivered its most bankable use case: making mass layoffs sound visionary. Slice nearly 40% of the workforce, wrap it in language about smarter tools and better output, and hope nobody notices this is still the oldest corporate trick in the book - doing more with less, while calling it transformation.”

AIOCD (Artificial Intelligence Overcommitment Disorder) noun | [ay-eye-oh-see-dee] 1. An executive brainworm, causing firms to go all in on AI before the evidence has turned up, convinced the efficiency miracle is hiding behind one more pilot, a restructure, or a workforce cull. Symptoms: Compulsive ‘AI-first’ declarations and allergic reactions to proof. Side effects may include slower developers, null labour-market effects, and productivity gains still missing from the stats. Cure: Fewer AI sermons, more honest reporting.

Arguing With Your CEO Is A Bad Idea
In case you can’t access the paywall, The Australian reports that “Atlassian has become embroiled in a legal battle with a former employee who alleges she was fired for attacking billionaire chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes’ aggressive behaviour on a company-wide Town Hall meeting, and reprimanded by co-founder Scott Farquhar after earlier demanding answers over job title changes.” Reading between the lines, it doesn’t pay to challenge “controversial restructuring decisions”. So, if you want to keep your job, think twice before raising your hand and asking pointed questions. On second thought, flying under the radar these days won’t work given how aggressively tech companies are slashing headcount.

The Real Message Behind Open Plan Offices
By the end of 2025, corporations, especially tech companies, were barking out RTO orders as if the office were some sacred engine of innovation. But is it? Silicon Valley helped popularise the open-plan office by selling it as a space for collaboration, transparency and creativity. What was really going on? Well, it was all about cramming more workers into less space and saving a fortune on real estate. Studies cited in this video say productivity fell 15–20%, sick days jumped 62%, and worker satisfaction tanked. But if you save 30% on office costs, a hit to performance is just the price of doing business. Then hot desking made it worse - increased cost-cutting disguised as culture.

Enshittification, coined in 2022, is “the gradual deterioration of service brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit seeking.” Watch this hilarious take on enshittification by the Norwegian Government. If nothing else, you’ll laugh out loud.

^{THE SHALLOW END}

Dear Dr Comms
I had a huge disagreement with my boss and suddenly found myself on the redundancy list. No warning, no real explanation, just out the door with a suspiciously tidy ‘business restructure.’ I’m tempted to lodge an unfair dismissal claim, but don’t know if I’m wrong, bitter, or simply late to the corporate assassination party. Yours, Stomach Churning.

Dear Stomach Churning,
That redundancy smells off. Let’s consult the specialists:

☕ Barista:
“If the order changed right after the argument, don’t just swallow it. Get the timeline, save the emails, and ask whether anyone else’s role actually disappeared.”

🍷 Sommelier:
“Notes of spite, a bitter finish, and a bouquet of legal risk. Decant carefully before proceeding.”

🍽️ Dishwasher:
“Scrub off the corporate grease. Check the paperwork, talk to a lawyer, then ask yourself the real question: do you want to spend months and money fighting over yesterday’s dirty plates, or use that energy to find a better job with fewer rodents in management?”

Clang, Clang, Bang! Robot Boxing Matches
San Francisco now has cage fights for humanoid robots, because apparently ordinary dystopia wasn’t immersive enough. Crowds paid up to $80 to watch 4.5-foot Chinese-made bots throw punches, fall over, and require human rescue mid-bout. Founders are promising bigger robots, international matches, and a glorious future for combat entertainment. Meanwhile, China has launched its own humanoid “combat league,” because of course it has. What is this communicating about culture? That nothing has changed since the Romans had gladiators fighting to the death. Humans still love cheering on violence as sport. Except these days, it’s metal on metal, no gore, just engineered carnage.

^{BIN THIS…}

If you want better writing, stop feeding readers the same reheated tech sludge every other company uses. If you’re using AI to help draft sales or marketing copy, build yourself a reusable prompt template that bans your worst jargon by default.

Try this:

That way, your copy sounds like a person with a functioning brain, not a brochure that was lobotomised by a committee.

Know someone who lives for this kind of nonsense? Forward this email to them and help me spread the dysfunction.

You can also subscribe to my other newsletter, Lead Different, for a serious take on strategic communications in B2B tech.