A Reddit post claiming that artificial intelligence has already begun displacing software engineers has struck a nerve online, triggering a discussion about job security in the tech industry.
The post, shared by a Reddit user identified as SingularityuS, describes the experience of a mid-level software engineer who says he was laid off after his company shifted to what leadership described as an “AI-first execution model.” According to the user, he had spent four years at the firm, led the backend team, shipped features, reviewed pull requests and was deeply familiar with systems colleagues relied on when things broke.
That sense of stability, he wrote, began to erode when company leadership started talking about “AI leverage” and “10x productivity.” The turning point came during a company-wide meeting where the CEO demonstrated an AI tool—specifically Claude—building a service within minutes. Soon after, the company hired two “Applied AI Engineers” and tasked them with rebuilding an internal service. The experiment reportedly took three days and worked.
What followed, the Reddit user claimed, was swift. Management announced a pivot, telling employees that “software development has fundamentally changed.” He recalled one statement in particular: “With modern AI tools, we don’t need dozens of engineers writing code anymore, just a few people who know how to direct the system.”
The user said the experience felt less like a conventional firing and more like sudden irrelevance. “It doesn’t feel like being fired. It feels like becoming obsolete overnight,” he wrote, adding that entire layers of engineering roles appeared to be vanishing in real time. His warning to others was blunt: “So if you’re reading this and thinking: ‘Yeah but I’m safe. I’m good.’ So was I.”
The post quickly gained traction, racking up more than 998 upvotes and drawing a flood of reactions. Some commenters questioned the authenticity of the account, suggesting it read like an AI-generated story. Others, however, said the scenario aligned with trends they were already seeing across the industry.
One skeptical commenter wrote, “This is so cynical but makes so much sense it has to be true. OpenAI and Anthropic so terrified of their investment funds slowing down before an IPO (and a stance to fuck over all investors)… they spin the usual fear mongering marketing campaign to spook idiot VCs into giving more money thinking the apocalypse is almost here. Pathetic if true.” The comment referenced companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which are known for developing advanced AI systems.
Another user struck a more cautionary tone, writing, “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. CEOs are excited about trimming payrolls, this allows them to try it as an experiment. If it works then the company feels justified, if not they’ll hire a few devs back. Discount this story at your own peril.”
A third commenter was unconvinced, stating simply, “reads like AI generated made up story.”
(This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
