I think the right way to read any tech company’s claim that they expect to reduce headcount by this or that percentage in the next year because of AI is just that they expect to reduce headcount by this or that percentage in the next year.

AI is just the latest bullshit reason they have come up with to justify it. They have no real plan for how AI will enable them to do it, and it doesn’t even matter, really. They’ve got a target they need to hit in order to make things look good for the investors, so that’s what they are going to do. The bits about AI are beside the point.