AI Unsuspected Collaterals

Accenture reportedly laid off over 11,000 employees, citing a lack of demand for workers without the necessary AI skills. Additionally, Accenture warns that further layoffs could occur if remaining employees cannot quickly acquire AI skills in a rapidly evolving world. I believe we should look beyond the headlines and question the real motives. What were the laid-off employees doing? What value did they bring to Accenture’s clients? Or is it simply because there is less demand for consulting services? Is it more appropriate to frame the layoffs as linked to “AI”? If you’re aware of some AI limitations in a complex business environment, where layoffs are supposedly driven by AI replacing workers, I would argue that they didn’t significantly impact the company initially. Alternatively, framing AI as a questionable strategy is a dubious approach. And it’s only the beginning.

I have a one-day holiday vacation on Thursday, right in the middle of the week, and I still have no plans. 🤨 Weather should be perfect, though. 🍁🍂🚲👀

Here’s another edition (Craft edition) of the world-famous Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter. It’s also published as a free newsletter on Ghost. Maintaining this newsletter is quite fun and forces me to explore more than I would if I weren’t authoring it. My publishing cadence is also quite consistent. I wish more people knew about it and would subscribe… but hey, that’s the life of any blogger.

I have a deep feeling that AI and Apple Intelligence are consuming a significant amount of development resources at Apple, which could explain why this year’s releases are so buggy.