As the tech industry reels from a brutal wave of job cuts—including thousands at Amazon, Block, and Atlassian, with Meta reportedly planning more—a public note from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has struck a raw nerve. On Tuesday, Altman posted on X: “I have so much gratitude to people who wrote extremely complex software character-by-character. It already feels difficult to remember how much effort it really took. Thank you for getting us to this point.”

The sentiment, intended as praise, was met with immediate criticism. Many pointed out that the AI models Altman’s company helped pioneer are now frequently cited in layoff announcements and hiring freezes for junior developers. These systems were trained on vast repositories of code written by the same engineers he thanked, making the post feel like a dismissal of their craft.

The online reaction was swift and sardonic. Thousands of responses flooded in, ranging from anger to dark humor. One user called it “Sam’s eulogy for software engineers.” Another wrote, “Dear devs: You will lose your jobs forever... But you can rest easy knowing sam Altman is grateful.” A popular suggestion was for an AI that warns billionaires when a post might sound “incredibly out of touch.”

The backlash underscores a growing tension in 2026: the architects of the AI revolution are celebrating its achievements, while many of the workers whose labor built its foundations are paying the price. Altman’s gratitude, however genuine, has become a focal point for that disconnect.

Source: TechCrunch