And last year they were all saying some variation on “don’t worry, AI is not going to cost anyone their jobs.”
Key take away for anyone is to never trust what an executive is saying. Much like a politician, if their lips are moving they are probably lying.
Because software isn’t something tangible that must go into the shelves. If you sell 1 or sell a billion copies the difference in costs is negligible. Completely different for physical objects where you need to produce just enough or if you make a nice cartel you can produce less and increase the prices.
That makes the point just as well. Company X uses AI to put software out even faster but the demand didn’t suddenly manifest from nowhere so they sold the same amount. What do they do with the extra time? Sure they can work on something new, but there’s probably an equal chance they keep release cycles the same and get rid of dead weight (i.e. people).