For anyone who doesn't: the economy is bad in general, but saying citing "AI" as the reason for layoffs lets companies reverse their public perception from "company going through a crunch" to "forward-thinking innovator".
The latest "Pivot to AI" pulls together a lot of mainstream financial reporting on this very thing: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/01/29/the-job-losses-are-real-b...
Some discussion then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46527950