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Block just fired 4,000 people — a 40% workforce reduction — while reporting $2.87 billion in profit, up 24% year-over-year. CEO Jack Dorsey called it AI-driven automation. Their stock soared 24% on the news.

This isn't an isolated case. New research shows 59% of hiring managers openly admit they exaggerate AI's role in layoffs because it "plays better" with stakeholders than the truth: cost-cutting disguised as innovation. Meanwhile, only 9% of companies say AI has actually replaced full roles. The gap between the hype and the reality is enormous — and your career is standing in the middle of it.

In this episode, Carlo Thompson dissects the playbook companies use to weaponize AI terminology, exposes which workers are actually at risk, and gives you the exact 7-point framework to determine whether your company is genuinely automating or using AI as cover for a standard cost-cutting exercise.

If your employer has said the words "AI layoffs" in the last six months, this episode is required listening. 

Resource List
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1heA8HlFO73F46wUu8FJmusQn6-9lck6leCRrgN1VRgY/edit?usp=sharing

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AI can automate your skills, execute your tasks, and write your emails. The one thing it cannot do: have coffee with the VP who wants to hire you.

In an era where technical skills are being commoditized by automation at scale, your professional network has become your primary career moat — and most professionals are either neglecting it or building it wrong.

In this episode, Carlo Thompson breaks down the economics of relationship-building in an AI-driven workplace, exposes why the standard LinkedIn strategy is already obsolete, and gives you the exact playbook to build a network that actively protects your livelihood through disruption.

The infrastructure of trust is the one thing no algorithm can replicate. This episode shows you how to build it before you need it. 

Exercise to build your network

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zoz35zBJa62BheldvXt04EOo_LSnN_3N/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=113840015682063908259&rtpof=true&sd=true

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AI agents aren't working alone anymore — they're forming autonomous teams. And 40% of these multi-agent projects are failing. If you work in tech, project management, or enterprise software, this is the biggest career opportunity of 2026.

This episode breaks down the multi-agent AI orchestration revolution: what it is, why most companies are getting it wrong, and why their failure is creating four brand-new career roles that didn't exist six months ago.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why multi-agent AI orchestration is the defining enterprise trend of 2026
• The four emerging career roles created by companies failing at AI agent deployment
• Why 40% of autonomous agent projects collapse — and what that means for job security
• Your 30-day survival plan to position yourself in the agentic AI economy

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Surviving AI podcast, multi-agent AI, AI orchestration, agentic AI jobs, MCP protocol, A2A protocol, AI agents 2026, enterprise AI careers, Carlo Thompson, AI job creation, agent architecture, AI deployment failures, future of work, AI career strategy, autonomous systems jobs

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Everyone says "learn AI." Nobody tells you WHICH tools or HOW. In this episode, I break down the exact 90-day curriculum that makes you valuable in the AI economy — updated for 2026 with the tools, certifications, and skills that actually pay $150K or more.

Prompt engineering is no longer a differentiator. The LLMs got better. The market moved on. The real money — $150K to $250K+ — is now in AI governance, agent architecture, and strategic implementation.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The 3-Tier Skills Hierarchy: what's essential, what's professional, and what unlocks six-figure roles
• Why you need THREE LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, AND Gemini) and which to use for what
• The 90-Day Mastery Plan: Month 1 foundation, Month 2 professional tools, Month 3 advanced strategy
• What changed in 2026: Claude Code launched, agentic frameworks went mainstream
• The certification path that actually pays: AI Governance, not prompt engineering certs
• The 6 mistakes that keep people stuck — including the new one most people are making right now
• Industry-specific AI tools for finance, legal, marketing, data, HR, and software

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Surviving AI podcast, AI skills 2026, AI certifications, prompt engineering dead, AI governance career, $150K AI jobs, 90-day AI curriculum, Carlo Thompson, ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini, AI career change, agentic AI skills, AI tools for professionals, future of work skills, high-paying AI jobs, AI learning roadmap

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Welcome to Surviving AI with Carlo Thompson!

In this highly requested deep dive, we are tackling the multi-trillion-dollar question keeping investors and tech executives awake at night: Is the massive AI bubble finally popping, or are we just witnessing a painful but healthy market correction?

We are cutting through the hype to look at the cold, hard data driving the financial and technological turbulence of 2026. If you have a 401(k), own tech stocks, or work in the software industry, you cannot afford to miss this episode.

In this episode, we unpack:

• The S&P 500 Unwind: Why Capital Economics predicts a major pullback in 2026 driven by inflation and high interest rates.
• The Smart Money Pivot: Why Bridgewater Associates slashed their stakes in giants like Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft, while betting heavily on Block and Oracle.
• The Shadow Banking Risk: The precarious "house of cards" created by circular financing and unregulated private equity funding AI startups.
• OpenAI's Leaked Financials: A look at the mind-boggling projected $14 billion loss for 2026 and the reality of the $500 billion Stargate data center project.
• The Enterprise Paradox: Why 90% of organizations are using AI, but only 40% are actually seeing a positive ROI.
• The Labor Market Reality: Moving past the "AI apocalypse" to understand the transition from training-time compute to inference-time compute.
• New Regulations: What you need to know about the Colorado AI Act and California's AB 2013 data transparency laws.

Don't forget to subscribe and like the show so you never miss an update on the realities of the AI industry!

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Are you worried that your job is being automated, but feel like you're "too old" to start over? You are not alone, and you are not out of options.

While age discrimination is a reality—especially in the tech sector, where ageism costs the U.S. economy $850 billion in lost productivity—older workers possess distinct advantages that younger generations lack. In this episode, we unpack the truth about late-career transitions in the era of Artificial Intelligence. We break down the exact financial Return on Investment (ROI) for pivoting into "human-centric" and AI-resistant moats like healthcare, skilled trades, consulting, and the public sector.

Discover why second-career nurses are highly sought after by hospitals for their maturity, how adult electrician apprentices boast near-zero dropout rates compared to their younger counterparts, and why government jobs offer a crucial 5-to-10-year buffer against AI disruption. We also dive into the hard math: how to calculate your break-even point whether you are 35, 40, or 45, and why taking action now is the ultimate defense against the "Silicon Tsunami".

In this episode, you’ll learn:

The reality of age bias: Why the EEOC just recovered a record $700 million in discrimination cases, and what it means for you.

How to leverage your financial stability, life experience, and professional network.

The math behind retraining: Break-even timelines for nursing and the trades.

Why the public sector is an "AI Sanctuary" currently lagging 5 years behind the private sector.

Actionable plans tailored specifically for your 40s, 50s, and 60s.

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AI agents aren't doing safe, simple tasks anymore. They're writing production code, triaging support tickets, and opening pull requests — completely autonomously. If your job involves following a manual or a predictable workflow, it is being replaced right now.

2026 is the year agentic AI moved from demos to deployment. This episode breaks down the data that most mainstream media is ignoring: which jobs are already being replaced by AI agents, how fast it's happening, and what you can do about it before the next round of layoffs hits.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why 2026 is the tipping point for AI agent deployment in the enterprise
• Which job categories are being automated first by agentic AI systems
• The difference between AI assistants and AI agents — and why agents are far more dangerous to your career
• Real examples of companies replacing entire teams with autonomous agent workflows
• What you can do now to stay ahead of the agentic AI wave

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Surviving AI podcast, AI agents replacing jobs, agentic AI 2026, autonomous AI workers, AI job displacement data, Carlo Thompson, AI automation 2026, future of work AI agents, AI coding agents, AI replacing developers, enterprise AI deployment, career strategy AI, job loss statistics 2026, AI workforce impact

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Where you live now matters more than what you do for a living. In 2026, some cities are creating massive AI-driven wealth while others are watching jobs disappear — and the gap is widening every month.

This Season 3 premiere reveals the geographic arbitrage playbook: the real map of where AI is creating opportunity, where it's destroying livelihoods, and why your zip code is the most underrated variable in your career survival strategy.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why geographic location is now the single biggest predictor of career resilience
• The cities and regions booming from AI investment (data centers, tech hubs, healthcare corridors)
• The areas being hollowed out by AI-driven automation and remote work shifts
• How to use geographic arbitrage to dramatically lower your cost of living while increasing your earning potential
• The real map of AI opportunity in 2026 — and how to position yourself on the right side of it

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Surviving AI podcast, geographic arbitrage, AI jobs by city, best cities for AI careers, data center jobs, cost of living arbitrage, Carlo Thompson, career relocation 2026, AI economy by region, future of work location, remote work AI, tech hub migration, career strategy geography, zip code economy

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Are you feeling anxious about your career and finances in 2026? You are not alone. Despite a seemingly stable 4.3% unemployment rate, the U.S. economy is locked in a "low-hire, low-fire" equilibrium — and beneath the surface, an AI-driven tectonic shift is completely redrawing the American labor market.

In this episode, we unpack the realities of the 2026 divergent economy. Traditional white-collar support roles are facing heavy disruption, leaving roughly 6.1 million workers highly exposed to AI with low adaptive capacity. But on the flip side, workers with advanced AI skills are commanding a staggering 56% wage premium over their peers.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the 2026 labor market is splitting into winners and losers — and the data behind it
• How 6.1 million workers are "highly exposed" to AI with low capacity to adapt
• The 56% AI wage premium — what skills command it and how to get them
• Which booming sectors (like healthcare) are projected to add 2 million jobs this decade
• How the geographic center of the middle class is shifting from coastal tech hubs to resilient mid-sized cities
• Actionable strategies to build your adaptive capacity and position yourself for the AI wage premium

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Surviving AI podcast, 2026 job market, AI skills earthquake, AI wage premium, new middle class, job market anxiety 2026, Carlo Thompson, AI workforce disruption, career adaptation, divergent economy, healthcare job growth, mid-sized city careers, AI labor market data, white-collar automation, future-proof career

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The AI revolution is not coming — it is already here. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost to AI in 2025 alone, and the window to adapt is rapidly closing. This is the complete Surviving AI Season 2 masterclass — all the essential data, strategies, and career-protection frameworks in one episode.

Whether you are a white-collar worker facing the "Ghost Boom" of record corporate profits but dead hiring, or someone looking to pivot into highly protected fields, this episode is your comprehensive roadmap.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The 2026 Reality Check: why the wait-and-see window is now closed
• The White-Collar Crisis: the "Ghost Boom" and "Unbossing" trends hitting corporate jobs
• The 4 Protection Factors of an AI-proof job
• The Untouchables: healthcare and public safety careers immune to automation
• The Skilled Trades Boom: why electricians and plumbers are the safest bet
• How to keep your corporate job: the "AI Champion" playbook
• 24-Month Retraining Roadmaps for any age and budget
• Business Ownership: the ultimate AI defense and service arbitrage
• The Financial Strategy: building an AI transition fund
• The 7-Day Survival Challenge: take action today

Resources Mentioned: AI Automation Risk Assessment, 24-Month Career Pivot Templates, The 30-Day AI Champion Challenge

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🔗 Resources Mentioned: (Link) Take the AI Automation Risk Assessment (Link) The 24-Month Career Pivot Templates (Link) The 30-Day AI Champion Challenge