AI champions have a favorite script.
Technology arrives, productivity skyrockets, workers split into haves and have-nots.
Zeb Evans
CEO of ClickUp
wants that future now.
Last Thursday
he took to X and dropped some numbers.
22% of the workforce went home.
Gone.
Permanently.
ClickUp
valued at $4 billion back in 2021
didn’t frame it as bleeding money.
No.
They called it a radical pivot.
An embrace of artificial intelligence meant to propel them forward.
“Most savings… flow directly back into the people who stay.”
Evans promises million-dollar salary bands.
Get outsized impact via AI
you get paid outside the box.
Literally.
This isn’t just talk.
Fortune reported a few days ago that ClickUp deployed roughly 3,00 internal AI agents.
These bots handle complex tasks.
Staff members?
They direct them.
Review the output.
Maybe check if the AI hallucinated again.
The goal
as Evans puts it
is to become a “100x org.”
Turbocharged.
Is anyone else doing this?
Most likely not at this speed.
Gartner recently surveyed companies using autonomous tech.
80% cut jobs.
Good?
Hardly.
The study found those workforce reductions aren’t translating to real money.
Returns are thin.
ClickUp insists it’s different.
Evans emailed TechCrunch to clarify.
Yes
they see gains.
Internal metrics prove it.
They’re even packaging these efficiencies into a new product for customers.
“We gamify value created… and time saved.”
Notice what’s missing.
Token count.
Lately
companies love tracking employee token consumption.
It’s called “tokenmaxxing.”
Using it to judge adoption.
Bad metric.
It just burns cash.
Evans says people who automate their jobs keep them.
Smart?
Or cynical?
If AI handles every task…
Do we still need humans at all?
Fewer people means fewer paychecks.
If you can’t automate your role well
you’re out.
Tech circles theorize about this all the time.
Now
it’s happening in real time.
