The promise of AI-driven productivity has many employees fearing for their heads. But to Marc Andreessen, cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, the technology is more of a bogeyman, masking a long-standing business fluke that has quietly lingered in boardrooms for years.
In an interview on the 20VC podcast with venture capitalist and host Harry Stebbings, the billionaire said AI was the scapegoat for layoffs that are actually the result of overhiring in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
“Essentially, every large company is overstaffed,” he said. “It’s at least overstaffed by 25%. I think most large companies are overstaffed by 50%. I think a lot of them are overstaffed by 75%.” He added, “Now they all have the silver bullet excuse: Ah, it’s AI.”
Andreessen’s comments are nothing new in an industry that is pushing back against the “silver bullet excuse” of AI, which some tech leaders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman have coined as “AI washing,” or blaming otherwise normal layoffs on the increased use of AI.
Read more: https://fortune.com/2026/03/31/marc-andreessen-ai-layoffs-silver-bullet-excuse-overhiring/
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