Block Decision To Lay Off 4K People Should Worry You. Because, This Is The First Direct Job Cut Impacted By AI

San Francisco: In an announcement that has sent a tremor through the global tech industry, Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Block Inc., has confirmed a reduction of the company’s workforce by nearly 50 per cent. While mass redundancies have become a grim staple of the post-pandemic economic correction, this particular cull of over 4,000 staff is different. It marks a watershed moment in corporate history: the first time a major, profitable tech giant has explicitly linked a mass layoff not to financial distress, but to the operational efficiencies provided by “Intelligence Tools.”

The “AI First” Redundancy

For months, analysts have debated when the theoretical threat of artificial intelligence would manifest as a tangible loss of human livelihoods. Today, that debate ended.

In a candid memorandum to staff, Dorsey stated that the firm—the parent company of Square, Cash App, and Afterpay—is shrinking from over 10,000 employees to a leaner core of just under 6,000. Crucially, Dorsey emphasized that the business is not in trouble. Gross profit is growing, and profitability is on an upward trajectory.

“We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using… are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company,” Dorsey wrote. He isn’t just cutting costs; he is re-architecting the very nature of white-collar work.

Fact-Check: Is This Really the “First” AI Job Cut?

While companies like IBM, Duolingo, and Klarna have made headlines over the past year for “pausing hiring” or trimming small percentages of staff due to AI, Block’s move represents a distinct escalation in scale and transparency.

Research into recent corporate filings suggests that while other firms have “AI-washed” their layoffs—using AI as a trendy excuse for poor management or pandemic over-hiring—Block is the first to do so while simultaneously boasting of record growth. According to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, over 55,000 job losses were linked to AI in 2025 alone, but most were in “back-office” roles or struggling firms. Block’s decision to cut 40% of its workforce while in a position of strength is the clearest evidence yet that AI is no longer a tool for augmentation, but for replacement.

Why This Should Worry the Global Workforce

Profitability is No Longer a Shield: Historically, layoffs happened when a company was “in the red.” Dorsey has shattered that social contract. If a company can increase its profit-per-employee by replacing a human with an “intelligence tool,” it now has the cultural and technological green light to do so.

The “Flattener” Effect: Dorsey spoke of “smaller and flatter teams.” This is code for the removal of middle management. As AI takes over project management, status reporting, and basic code review, the entire “middle” of the corporate ladder is being hollowed out.

The Speed of Implementation: Dorsey admitted he could have cut gradually over years but chose to “act on it now.” This suggests that the “intelligence” shift is accelerating faster than traditional labour laws or reskilling programmes can adapt.

A Future of “Self-Building” Platforms

Perhaps the most chilling part of the announcement for tech workers is Dorsey’s vision for the remaining 6,000 staff. He described a future where customers can “build their own features directly” using Block’s capabilities.

In this model, the software engineer is no longer the builder; they are the architect of a system that allows the user to build for themselves. This shift from “Software as a Service” to “Infrastructure as an Intelligence” suggests that the demand for traditional coding and product roles may never return to 2021 levels.

The Verdict
The Block layoffs are a “canary in the coal mine” for the modern professional. When a CEO as influential as Jack Dorsey admits that 4,000 people are no longer needed because the “intelligence tools” are simply better at the job, it signals the end of the ZIRP-era (Zero Interest Rate Policy) hiring spree and the beginning of the Efficiency Era.

The claim that this is the first direct job cut of this magnitude impacted by AI is not just a headline—it is a documented shift in how the world’s most powerful companies value human labour.

The “Intelligent Tools”

Jack Dorsey and CTO Dhanji Prasanna have confirmed three primary AI systems of Block:

A. “Goose” (Internal Operations)

• Role: An “AI Agent” framework developed by Block (and recently open-sourced).
• Efficiency Fact: Block reports that 6,500+ employees use Goose every week.
• The Data: Engineering teams using Goose save an average of 8 to 10 hours per week, reducing manual technical work by approximately 25%. It handles code reviews, automated testing, and complex data migrations.

B. “MoneyBot” (Cash App)

• Role: An “agentic” AI assistant launched for Cash App users in late 2025.
• Capability: Unlike a standard chatbot, MoneyBot can take action—it can create savings plans, buy Bitcoin, and analyze spending habits to give “proactive intelligence.”
• Job Impact: This tool significantly reduces the need for the large customer support and financial advisory hierarchies that previously managed these user interactions.

C. “ManagerBot” (Square)

• Role: An AI suite for Square merchants.
• Capability: It automates business “back-office” tasks like inventory management and predictive profitability reporting.
• Strategic Pivot: It allows merchants to “build their own features” using Block’s infrastructure, removing the need for Block’s internal product teams to build every specific tool manually.

“Intelligence Tools…”: 4K To Be Laid Off In Block, Announces Jack Dorsey