The wave of layoffs in Silicon Valley tech companies has reached domestic shores.
Two weeks ago, the heat of layoffs at tech giants like Meta, OpenAI, and Microsoft had not yet dissipated, and leading domestic tech companies have already extended their reach to customer service, branding, technology, sales, and other positions. A former colleague of mine, who is responsible for overseas business at a leading big data company, discussed the trends in intelligent development and the mid-life crisis at 35 with me for a long time.
The trigger was his discovery that the company had already built AI customer service and product testing scenarios internally. Whether it was front-end customer acquisition or product demonstrations, there was no longer a heavy reliance on human experience and output, which brought him a strong sense of anxiety.
Since the deepseek large model became popular at the beginning of the year, the impact of AI Agents on the labor market extends far beyond customer service and technology roles. The electronic product manufacturers we serve have also used technology to disrupt traditional branding and warehousing, achieving a truly unattended product circulation side, with the company fully transforming into a digital labor enterprise. The clients are electronic product manufacturers, 60% of whom are engaged in cross-border business, primarily promoting products to local fitness clubs through distributors and direct sales. As order volumes surged, manual processing efficiency could no longer support the pace of business growth. Initially, the CEO spent millions customizing a system with a domestic tech giant, but it could not solve the full-chain data interconnectivity and digital labor transformation from upstream raw material procurement to factory production and downstream distributors. Later, the client researched our Agentic AI, building an enterprise-level application that starts with data generation in the system, leveraging AI-native multi-agent collaboration to call systems like CRM, ERP, and WMS, completing a series of tasks such as customer acquisition, quote inquiries, order taking, inventory management, and shipping. As technology continues to advance, Agentic AI is gradually entering more and more enterprises, collaborating like humans, freeing people from tedious, repetitive labor to handle more complex and creative work.
The human leverage of enterprises has transformed into digital labor that works 24/7, without emotions or social security needs. In the future, those who can be more competitive in the market will need to stack more buffs, such as an individual being able to form a small sales company (content capability + sales capability + consulting capability), completing brand promotion and value transmission, as well as order signing. In contrast, positions that were once highly sought after, such as development and consulting roles, will need to integrate brand promotion and product sales capabilities, narrowing the gap of closing a business loop. As Luo Zhenyu mentioned in his annual speech: Lei Jun, you can no longer define this person; he has written code, made investments, produced phones, built cars, and created IP, succeeding in everything. When he faces various competitors, it’s like an elephant entering a porcelain store, effortlessly overturning the competitive landscape. For ordinary people, not being defined by AI into a fixed label makes it more important to have diversified capabilities. Let AI be unable to replicate you; it can only replace your assistant.