Is AI Really Why Everyone's Getting Laid Off?

Uber told one team their jobs were cut to "embrace AI." Six weeks later, the company cut 3,300 more jobs — and never mentioned AI once. Same company, same year, opposite explanations. So which one do you believe?

In this episode, Dan and Mina dig into the real evidence behind 2026's wave of layoffs at Uber, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google — and find something stranger than a simple "AI took the jobs" story. Google's headcount actually grew while its CEO talked up "AI-native" restructuring. Meta laid off people from inside its own AI division. And three companies — Ford, IBM, and Klarna — quietly walked back AI-driven cuts after discovering exactly what AI couldn't do.

The real question isn't whether AI is responsible. It's whether companies are shrinking — or just changing who they're willing to pay to do the work. Dan and Mina disagree about whether that distinction even matters, and land somewhere neither of them expected.

Beyond the Surface is Curious Professional's weekend deep-dive show — one question, two perspectives, no easy answers.

f AI Makes Everyone Look Good, How Do Companies Know Who's Actually Good?

Every hiring manager has the same story now: a candidate's resume and cover letter are flawless — and then the interview reveals a gap nobody expected. In this episode, Dan and Mina take apart what's actually happening when AI makes every job applicant's writing sound equally polished. Is it that people are cheating, or is something stranger going on — where AI compresses execution without creating judgment? They dig into why cover letters are losing their power as a hiring signal, why live AI-assisted interview cheating is becoming a real problem, and the uncomfortable question underneath it all: if junior employees no longer build skill through entry-level work, where does the next generation of experienced professionals actually come from? Along the way, they land on a genuine disagreement about whether university degrees are becoming more valuable — or increasingly obsolete — as every other signal gets noisier.

Beyond the Surface is Curious Professional's weekend deep-dive show — one question, two perspectives, twenty minutes to actually think it through.

Mandarin:

如果 AI 让每个人都"看"起来很优秀，公司要如何选出适合的人才？

现在几乎每个招聘经理都有同一个故事：候选人的简历和求职信完美无瑕——结果一到面试，就出现了谁也没料到的落差。这一集，Dan 和 Mina 深入探讨：当 AI 让每个求职者的文字都变得同样精致时，到底发生了什么？是大家在作弊，还是有更奇怪的事情正在发生——AI 压缩的是"执行力"，而不是"判断力"？他们聊到了为什么求职信正在失去作为招聘信号的力量，为什么面试中使用 AI 实时作弊正在成为一个真实的问题，以及一个更让人不安的问题：如果新人不再透过基层工作累积能力，下一代真正有经验的专业人才，究竟从哪里来？两人也就"大学学历究竟是变得更有价值，还是正在被淘汰"这个问题，展开了一场真实的分歧。

Beyond the Surface 是 Curious Professional 的周末深度对谈节目——一个问题，两种视角，二十分钟真正把它想清楚。

YouTube description

English:

Every hiring manager has the same story now: a flawless resume, then an interview that doesn't add up. So what's actually happening?

AI hasn't made people smarter — it's made everyone's output look more polished, all at once. In this episode, Dan and Mina take apart what that actually means for hiring: why cover letters are losing power as a signal, why live AI-assisted interview cheating is a real and growing problem, and the question that keeps them up at night — if AI automates the entry-level work junior employees used to learn from, where does real judgment come from next?

They also land on a genuine disagreement: are university degrees becoming more valuable as a trust signal in a noisier world — or is the traditional four-year model becoming obsolete? No neat answer. Just two people actually thinking it through.

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