The AI Wasteland
mid journey: Curt Doty
You won’t be replaced by AI. You’ll be replaced by nothing.
Picture it: a single desk in a barren field. The chair’s still warm, but no one’s coming to fill it—not a robot, not a retrained worker, not even someone who “knows AI.” Just silence, sanctioned by a buzzword. Cue The Who!
Corporate America has found its perfect scapegoat. "AI is transforming the workforce," they say, while quietly eliminating jobs without backfilling, retraining, or replacing. It’s not innovation—it’s downsizing in disguise.
When I heard Tony Robbins plugging the now old trope, ‘You won’t be replaced by AI, you’ll be replaced by someone who uses AI,” I felt a little throw up in my throat. Anyone who is using that 3 year old line now is selling snake oil. Sorry Tony.
Take the numbers. In October 2025 alone, U.S. employers announced about 153,074 job cuts—the highest monthly total in more than two decades. Year‑to‑date through October they’ve announced roughly 1.099 million cuts, up 65 % from the same period last year.
And where are the most visible cuts? At giants like Amazon (about 14,000 corporate roles cut) and UPS (48,000 roles) among many. Even major media company Paramount announced around 2,000 layoffs.
So: vast job cuts said to be about “AI” or “automation” or “cost‑efficiency.” And yet, here’s the twist: the substitute workforce of “AI‑literate” hires—the idea that AI ushers in a new generation of tech‑savvy workers—is nowhere to be clearly seen. Scholarly work suggests only around 7 % of firms currently use AI in a meaningful way. arXiv Surveys find only a minority of companies have formal AI policies.
In other words: the “AI” narrative is functioning as a veiled curtain behind which mass downsizing is happening. Corporate greed and cost‑cutting? Completely plausible. But the public narrative is “AI disruption,” which helps deflect attention from other motives.
And then there’s the governance gap. One survey found that only 10 % of companies are “future‑ready” for AI—i.e., have structured plans to support workers, build skills and lead through AI disruption. That means 9 out of 10 firms are not walking the talk. If you hear “we’re replacing roles due to AI,” but the organization has no serious plan to retrain or upgrade the workforce, you’re looking at downsizing more than transformation.
The real irony: workers are told “don’t worry — AI won’t replace you.” Yet the reality is they’re replaced by someone who knows (or at least is presumed to know) AI. But if companies aren’t even scaling AI adoption or policy, that “someone” may just be an abstraction. What you have instead is less workforce, weaker job security, more fear of “we’re next.”
For creatives, for technologists, for everyday professionals: this is a moment of truth. The rhetoric of “digital transformation” masks a deeper tale of cost rationalization. Organizations that trim headcount under “AI” but don’t invest in upskilling the remainder are effectively throwing out talent and hope.
In short: the promise of AI‑augmented jobs is still just that: a promise. Meanwhile, the practice of “fire now, claim AI later” is very real. And in that gap lies the ethical question—what happens to the people left behind, and what kind of future are we building when “AI readiness” is mostly a tagline?
If you see your organization trimming roles in the name of AI — ask: where’s the retraining? Where’s the policy? Where’s the follow‑through? If the answer’s “we’ll figure it out later,” you might be witnessing another round of downsizing dressed in future‑tech clothing. If you need an AI Policy or AI Training, contact me.
Sources:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.14721?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0HE0lnFCdo
About the Author
Curt Doty is a former studio executive and award-winning creative director with deep leadership experience across the entertainment and branding industries.
As the founder of CurtDoty.co, a creative consultancy, Curt has led integrated marketing, multi-channel storytelling, branding, identity, and user experience initiatives for a diverse roster of clients, including NCI, Wizard World, Topps, The Grammys, Maserati, AARP, Spalding, Z-Living, Starz, and The Santa Fe International Film Festival. He is a pioneer in mobile-first vertical storytelling and branded content.
Curt's career in television branding began at Pittard Sullivan, where he developed broadcast design and image campaigns for TV Guide, Discovery, ABC, FX, StarTV Asia, and SAT.1. In movie marketing, he’s worked with Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, DreamWorks, Focus Features, Miramax, and Warner Bros., with some famous directors like Spielberg, Del Toro, George Lucas, Justin Lin and many more. He now advises indie filmmakers on packaging and festival strategy.
His Fortune 500 clientele includes GM, Carl’s Jr., Bausch + Lomb, Pond’s, Covered California, Degree, GoGo, Genentech, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, TracFone, USPS, Ubisoft, Abbott, the US Army, HUD, and Motorola.
Over the past 15 years, Curt has leaned into innovation—leading R&D projects at Apple, Toshiba, and Microsoft, and pioneering interactive content for mobile, Blu-ray, and multi-touch eBooks at Trailer Park and Bemis Balkind.
Today, Curt’s work explores the intersection of AI, Web3, decentralization, and the creator economy. A sought-after fractional leader (CCO, CMO), speaker, and AI educator, he runs salons and workshops demystifying AI for creatives and executives alike.
He also hosts RealmIQ: Sessions, a podcast spotlighting thought leaders in tech, content, and design—continuing his role as a visionary voice in the future of creativity.
