When the AI Guy Says It's Not the AI
Picture the most powerful man in artificial intelligence sitting across from a journalist, leather jacket on, cameras rolling — and instead of cheerleading for the technology that has made his company the most valuable on Earth, he turns to the audience and essentially says: stop blaming my product for your bad decisions.
That's roughly what happened on 26 May 2026, when Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang sat down with Channel NewsAsia and tore into a corporate habit that has defined this year's headlines. CEOs across tech and beyond have been pointing at AI as the reason they're cutting staff. Huang called that story "lazy," "irresponsible," and a sign that leaders are "out of imagination." Within hours, the clip was everywhere.
The timing is loud. In 2026 alone, Meta, Cisco, Intuit, Amazon and Microsoft have collectively shown tens of thousands of employees the door — many while invoking some version of "AI efficiencies." Just days before Huang's interview, the deals site Groupon announced it was cutting around 400 jobs and crediting AI for the move. The market response? Its stock jumped roughly 10%.
Which raises an awkward question Huang seems to be the only major figure willing to ask out loud: is AI actually doing the firing, or is "AI" simply the most fashionable excuse for a decision the boss already wanted to make?
