Companies fired employees to afford AI. Now AI costs more than the employees.

Companies fired employees to afford AI. Now AI costs more than the employees. That's the strange part of this AI boom. Companies cut workers, slowed hiring, and told Wall Street they're "reallocating resources toward AI." Then they turn around and spend more on AI than they spent on people. Big Tech committed $740 billion in capital expenditure this year, up 69%. Meanwhile, about 120,000 tech workers lost their jobs. Companies are cutting workers to fund AI tools that cost more than the work they replace. That's where this gets dangerous. The tools are real. AI can write code, summarize meetings, draft emails, and analyze data faster than any hire. The mistake is assuming every AI task saves money just because it uses fewer humans. Every bubble ends the same way. Somebody finally asks what the money bought. AI just entered that phase. Phase 1 asked "are we using AI?" Phase 2 asked "how much?" Phase 3 asks the only question that matters. "What did we get for it?" The companies that answer that question will own the next decade. Because when you reward spending instead of results, spending becomes the result.