GoKawiilIf you need a cathartic release from the news that Amazon laid off 16,000 workers, Block chopped nearly half its workforce, Atlassian pared back 10% of staffers, and Meta is reportedly considering another massive round of layoffs, all in the name of AI, then we invite you to browse the responses to a recent Sam Altman post on X.
Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, shared this on Tuesday:
“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.”
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. — Sam Altman (@sama) March 17, 2026
The problem with that sweet sentiment is that Altman’s company ushered in the AI now being used as an excuse for developer layoffs and fewer junior developer jobs. And it did so by training on massive volumes of code written the old-fashioned way — by the very people he’s now thanking.
His post implies that developers’ genuinely difficult-to-master craft is now like a rotary telephone: outdated and unnecessary.
Naturally, Altman’s comments attracted memes and responses richer than his post. While some were straight-up angry, (“You’re welcome. Nice to know that our reward is our jobs being taken away”), much of the internet did what it always does: cracked jokes.
There are thousands of comments. Some of our favorites:
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