Artificial intelligence is not the greatest threat facing today’s workforce. Companies can use AI to make people dramatically more productive, create new opportunities, and expand what their existing workforce can accomplish. But when leaders introduce AI through secrecy, ambiguity, and mass layoffs, they risk turning a technological transformation into a crisis of confidence that can undermine the very organization they are trying to improve.
A recent report about Meta’s AI strategy illustrates the danger. Meta explored scenarios that could reduce some teams by as much as 60 percent as it pursued an “AI native” organization. Employees became convinced that AI initiatives were partly designed to replace them.
After a first round of layoffs, plans for a second wave were abandoned. Meta said it never intended to lay off 60 percent of its entire workforce. Still, the episode exposes a fundamental problem: once employees believe technology is being used against them, leadership loses control of the conversation.
I recognize this pattern because I have spent years sitting between people when trust has deteriorated. In mediation, I repeatedly see the same mechanism. When people lack information, they create explanations.
When leadership leaves critical questions unanswered, employees do not simply wait patiently for clarification: they connect the dots themselves. That is especially dangerous during an AI transition. Tell employees that AI will transform their jobs while simultaneously introducing restructuring, monitoring, or headcount reductions, and they will naturally wonder whether they are being developed or replaced.
A productivity tool starts looking like surveillance. A restructuring starts looking like a warning. A request for feedback starts looking like theater.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
