[18 MAY] PAPER CUT
Silicon Valley doesn’t want to improve work, it wants to erase it. As AI scales and middle managers disappear, what’s left for the rest of us? This week’s Paper Cut breaks down the automation obsession, career collapse, and the silent EVP crisis it’s creating.
![[18 MAY] PAPER CUT](/content/images/size/w1200/2025/05/18MAY.jpg)
Welcome back to another edition of Paper Cut, your weekly slice of HR reality straight, sharp, and strategy-first.
This week, we’re not burying the lede: Silicon Valley’s latest vision for the future doesn’t include most of us.
AI is no longer just accelerating work. According to some of the industry’s loudest voices, it’s here to replace it entirely. From sweeping layoffs to whispered dinner party admissions, the plan is clear: eliminate human labour, scale the tech, and reap the salaries. All of them.
Meanwhile, the middle is vanishing, middle managers, middle income, middle ground. As mass layoffs continue, new roles are emerging, but so is a generation determined to avoid the corporate hierarchy altogether.
So if you’ve been wondering where work is going, this week’s headlines suggest an answer: away from you, unless you’re coding the future, funding it, or willing to be led by it.
