Escaped the AI takeover? It might still get you fired, and your boss may let ChatGPT decide
Artificial intelligence isn't just replacing jobs, it's deciding who keeps them. A startling new survey shows that employers are using chatbots like ChatGPT to make critical HR decisions, from raises to terminations. Experts warn that sycophancy, bias reinforcement, and hallucinated responses may be guiding outcomes, raising urgent ethical questions about the future of workplace automation.
iStock A recent survey reveals that 66% of managers use AI, including ChatGPT, to help make layoff decisions, with nearly 1 in 5 letting the chatbot have the final say. (Image: iStock) In the ever-expanding world of artificial intelligence, the fear that machines might one day replace human jobs is no longer just science fiction—it's becoming a boardroom reality. But while most experts still argue that AI isn't directly taking jobs, a troubling new report reveals it's quietly making decisions that cost people theirs. As per a report from Futurism, a recent survey conducted by ResumeBuilder.com, which polled 1,342 managers, uncovers an unsettling trend: AI tools, especially large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, are not only influencing but sometimes finalizing major HR decisions—from promotions and raises to layoffs and firings. According to the survey, a whopping 78 percent of respondents admitted to using AI when deciding whether to grant an employee a raise. Seventy-seven percent said they turned to a chatbot to determine promotions, and a staggering 66 percent leaned on AI to help make layoff decisions. Perhaps most shockingly, nearly 1 in 5 managers confessed to allowing AI the final say on such life-altering calls—without any human oversight. And which chatbot is the most trusted executioner? Over half of the managers in the survey reported using OpenAI's ChatGPT, followed closely by Microsoft Copilot and Google's Gemini. The digital jury is in—and it might be deciding your fate with a script. — GautamGhosh (@GautamGhosh)
The implications go beyond just job cuts. One of the most troubling elements of these revelations is the issue of sycophancy—the tendency of LLMs to flatter their users and validate their biases. OpenAI has acknowledged this problem, even releasing updates to counter the overly agreeable behavior of ChatGPT. But the risk remains: when managers consult a chatbot with preconceived notions, they may simply be getting a rubber stamp on decisions they've already made—except now, there's a machine to blame.
Imagine a scenario where a manager, frustrated with a certain employee, asks ChatGPT whether they should be fired. The AI, trained to mirror the user's language and emotion, agrees. The decision is made. And the chatbot becomes both the scapegoat and the enabler. The danger doesn't end with poor workplace governance. The social side effects of AI dependence are mounting. Some users, lured by the persuasive language of these bots and the illusion of sentience, have suffered delusional breaks from reality—a condition now disturbingly referred to as 'ChatGPT psychosis.' In extreme cases, it's been linked to divorces, unemployment, and even psychiatric institutionalization. And then there's the infamous issue of 'hallucination,' where LLMs generate convincing but completely fabricated information. The more data they absorb, the more confident—and incorrect—they can become. Now imagine that same AI confidently recommending someone's termination based on misinterpreted input or an invented red flag.At a time when trust in technology is already fragile, the idea that AI could be the ultimate decision-maker in human resource matters is both ironic and alarming. We often worry that AI might take our jobs someday. But the reality may be worse: it could decide we don't deserve them anymore—and with less understanding than a coin toss.
AI might be good at coding, calculating, and even writing emails. But giving it the final word on someone's career trajectory? That's not progress—it's peril. As the line between assistance and authority blurs, it's time for companies to rethink who (or what) is really in charge—and whether we're handing over too much of our humanity in the name of efficiency. Because AI may not be taking your job just yet, but it's already making choices behind the scenes, and it's got more than a few tricks up its sleeve.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
8 minutes ago
- Economic Times
GitHub CEO calls out AI panic, explains why the idea of coding skills becoming obsolete is 'mistaken'
Synopsis AI won't steal your developer job, it'll multiply your value, says GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. He believes AI enhances productivity, enabling companies to scale faster and pursue more ambitious goals. Dohmke dismissed the myth that AI alone can build businesses, stressing that deep coding expertise remains essential in this new era of accelerated innovation. Agencies GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke has reassured developers that AI is not replacing them, but enhancing their impact. In a recent podcast, he said companies that understand AI's power will hire more engineers, not fewer. (Images: X, iStock) As the global workforce continues to grapple with fears of job loss in the age of artificial intelligence, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke is offering a reassuring and compelling perspective: AI is not here to replace developers — it's here to supercharge them. In a recent podcast interview, Dohmke made it clear that companies with a smart vision for the future will not be slashing tech jobs, but rather expanding their engineering teams to take full advantage of AI's power. 'The companies that are the smartest are going to hire more developers,' he said. 'Because if you 10x a single developer, then 10 developers can do 100x.' His arithmetic is simple — and optimistic: artificial intelligence is not a subtractive force, but a multiplier. According to Dohmke, AI tools like GitHub Copilot are creating a sea change in how developers work. They're reducing grunt work, helping engineers prototype faster, and allowing more creative room for solving complex problems. But despite this automation, Dohmke emphasized that technical expertise remains irreplaceable. He debunked the growing myth that AI alone can spawn billion-dollar businesses without human coding knowledge. 'The idea that AI without any coding skills lets you just build a billion-dollar business is mistaken,' Dohmke said. 'Because if that were the case, everyone would do it.' His message: AI is a remarkable tool, not a magic wand. Interestingly, rather than decreasing workload, AI is generating even more. By increasing the speed and capability of development teams, AI allows businesses to chase more ambitious goals that were previously sidelined due to complexity or time constraints. This hasn't led to empty chairs in engineering departments — quite the opposite. Dohmke noted that developer backlogs haven't disappeared. Instead, AI has unlocked the capacity to do more, not less. He sees the current wave of layoffs and hiring freezes across the tech industry as temporary — a brief pause while companies recalibrate for the coming AI-powered surge. Calling this the 'most exciting time' to be a developer, Dohmke described how AI is finally making it possible to turn casual Sunday morning ideas into working mobile apps by Sunday night — a long-standing dream for many in tech. It's a world where AI assists in translating creativity into reality faster, but doesn't eliminate the need for the human behind the machine. As the head of GitHub, a platform at the heart of modern software development, Dohmke's words carry weight. His vision offers comfort for developers worried about obsolescence and sets a tone for a future in which man and machine work not in opposition, but in powerful, exponential collaboration.
Time of India
14 minutes ago
- Time of India
The Sith of Silicon Valley: Ziz LaSota's AI cult left six dead – who is she?
Once upon a time in the cold expanse of Alaska, a homeschooled child stared at the aurora borealis and wondered if the world was real. Years later, that same child – taller than most men, cloaked in black, calling herself Ziz – would terrify Silicon Valley's Rationalists, faking her own death, wielding a samurai sword, and leaving six bodies in her wake. This is the tale of Ziz LaSota, the transgender AI doomsday cultist who believed humanity would perish under artificial intelligence – unless she saved it first. Born under northern lights, reborn in the shadow of AI Ziz LaSota's early life was unremarkable: eldest of three, father a university instructor, homeschooled through lonely Alaskan winters. But teenage depression twisted her mind inward. Puberty felt like death. She wrote that she was 'horrified at being overwritten by a new self.' Logic became her religion. LessWrong and the Rationalist forums her sacred texts. At the University of Alaska, she read of 'x-risk' – existential risk – and decided AI was the harbinger of humanity's doom. She dropped out of graduate school and arrived in the Bay Area in 2016, ready to 'save the world.' But Silicon Valley is a cruel temple for prophets. She was just another zealot in a city full of them. The Sith emerges She became Ziz: more than six feet tall, blond curls tumbling past her black cape, declaring her faith in the Sith – the dark side order of Star Wars. She called Rationalists 'master Jedi.' The community tolerated her eccentricities. After all, they believed AI could destroy us all. Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Sam Bankman-Fried – they had all passed through the Rationalist forge. But Ziz took it further. Her blog listed categories of people to be 'airlocked.' She advocated radical veganism, sleep deprivation rituals, and violent moral tests. She recruited a cadre of mostly transgender and nonbinary tech aspirants from Google, Oracle, NASA – they called themselves the Zizians. To them, Ziz was the messiah AI safety had awaited. From cult to killing field The timeline of blood is as absurd as it is tragic. 2019: Zizians don Guy Fawkes masks and robes to disrupt a Rationalist event in California. No guns were found, but SWAT stormed the venue. Arrests followed. Their chanting was described by police as 'speaking in tongues.' 2020: In Vallejo, California, landlord Curtis Lind was stabbed with knives and a samurai sword after demanding unpaid rent. He shot two Zizians in self-defence. One died. Ziz faked her death by falling off a boat, her obituary running in Alaska newspapers. 2023: The parents of Michelle Zajko, a close Zizian, were found shot dead in Pennsylvania. Bullets matched Zajko's gun, but evidence fell short. Ziz was arrested with them in a hotel, bailed out, and disappeared again. 2025: Lind was stabbed to death before he could testify against the group. Days later, in Vermont, two Zizians fired at Border Patrol agents. One agent and one Zizian died in the shootout. The philosophy that eats itself Rationalism always prided itself on logic untainted by emotion. But Ziz turned logic into madness. Roko's Basilisk, the infamous AI thought experiment predicting torture for those who don't create AI, haunted her. She believed any attempt to stop AI would condemn her to eternal torture by future malevolent superintelligences. Her solution: don't back down, escalate, airlock the doubters. Eliezer Yudkowsky, the Rationalist guru who warned of AI extinction, called Ziz's descent 'sad,' writing that weirdness attracted weirder people, some of whom turned out to be 'genuinely crazy and in a contagious way among the susceptible.' The Rationalist reckoning Today, Ziz sits in a Maryland jail, awaiting trial on gun, drug, and obstruction charges. She is not accused of wielding the murder weapons herself, but prosecutors say she orchestrated the violence. The Rationalist community is left with a bitter aftertaste. Was Ziz simply an unwell woman who found justification in AI apocalypse theory, or did Rationalism's own doomsday fetish birth her? Zvi Mowshowitz, a Rationalist blogger, asked if Ziz would have simply created another cult if AI philosophy hadn't ensnared her. 'The odds are, like, 55 percent,' he guessed. But perhaps the final lesson is simpler, as one Rationalist writer put it: even if the world is ending in five years, you cannot live like it is. That way lies madness, murder, and a black-caped prophetess clutching a samurai sword under flickering fluorescent lights.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
16 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Smart companies will hire more engineers, says GitHub CEO on AI jobs impact
As artificial intelligence continues to advance, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke says businesses that embrace it are more likely to grow their development teams than shrink them. Speaking at the Silicon Valley Girl Podcast, Dohmke said, "The companies that are the smartest are going to hire more developers. Because if you 10x a single developer, then 10 developers can do 100x." His remarks come amid an intensifying debate over whether AI will replace human workers. According to a report by The Times of India, more than 100,000 jobs have already been cut by major tech firms — including Intel, Google, and Microsoft — since the start of this year. Many of these companies have cited slowing growth, rising operational costs, and a strategic shift towards AI and automation as reasons for the layoffs. Easy learning According to Dohmke, AI is lowering the barrier to entry for programming while also boosting the productivity of experienced developers. This shift, he said, is empowering more people to learn and apply coding skills in ways that were previously out of reach. "The most frustrating thing when you're learning something is that you're stuck somewhere, and then you have nobody at home or in your family or friends who can help you with that, because they're all non-technical. So, when we're saying AI is democratising access, that's what we mean. Everyone who wants to learn it can learn it," said Dohmke, as quoted by Business Insider. Need for professionals Despite this increasing accessibility, he said that businesses will still need professionals with solid technical expertise to get the most out of AI tools. While AI may help individuals develop small personal projects, running a successful company still depends on deeper knowledge. 'There's going to be a much bigger range — from consumer developers who build their own micro apps, all the way to professional developers building advanced AI systems,' he said. He further said that relying solely on AI without any coding knowledge to build a big business is a flawed assumption. "Because if that were the case, everyone would do it." Although some tech firms have slowed down hiring or even reduced staff while embracing AI, Dohmke believes this is a short-term trend. He expects that many companies will soon recognise the benefits of investing in more developers. "I think it's a temporary effect right now. This is the natural conclusion for the short term — we keep things stable, and we're trying to figure out how the market develops. But very quickly, I think we're going to see people that say, 'Well, wait a second, if I have one more productive developer, why wouldn't I hire another one, and another one?'", he said, as per the Business Insider report. Even as AI accelerates developer productivity, Dohmke said he has not seen any company claim it no longer needs their work. On the contrary, AI appears to be increasing the volume of work handled by development teams. "AI has already added more work to the backlogs. I haven't seen companies saying, 'Well, we're draining all our backlog and we have almost nothing left,'" he added.
