Companies don't want to pay millions for the bottom 90% anymore — they'd rather hand the top 10% better tools

April 26, 2026

Let me try to explain these AI layoffs.

The issue is the vast difference in quality of employee between the top 10% and everyone else. AI can't come anywhere close (today) to replacing the top performers at a big company.

But they're spending millions a year on tens of thousands of employees in the bottom 75% of the quality scale. And AI is now getting good enough to replace THEM. Not directly, yet, but by having top performers do more of their work with AI.

So it's not that AI is better than top performers. It's not.

The issue is 90% of employees aren't in the top 10%. And companies no longer want to pay millions a year for mediocre employees. They'd rather fire everyone but the best, and have them become 10 or 100x what they were by wielding AI.

This is why you see some people thriving right now and most people are panicking. It's because most people are in the 90% that companies no longer want.

The solution is to become one of the top 10% type people that companies still desperately need. Or to do your own thing once you get there because you no longer need a company.

But this explains why some are thriving right now while most aren't. It's less about AI and more about the difference between top performers and everyone else.

The point in calling this out is to 1) explain something that we're seeing mixed signals on in the news. Are people thriving or getting screwed by all this AI stuff? And 2) to provide a solution, which is to move to a more HUMAN/Individual frame instead of a Corporate one.

To become resistant to the whims of corporations deciding they don't need us. Because we can thrive by doing our own thing, and sharing value with others doing the same. 💪🏼