Elon Musk amplified Citadel CEO Ken Griffin's warning that agentic AI now replaces PhD-level finance work in hours, not months. Speaking at Stanford University, Griffin said the AI toolkit has become profoundly more powerful in just nine months, prompting concern about its impact on highly skilled professions. The Citadel chief admitted he went home 'fairly depressed' by the change, marking his first sense of real AI impact at scale. 'These are not mid-tier white-collar jobs. These are extraordinarily high-skilled jobs being automated by agentic AI,' Griffin told Stanford students. Historically, Citadel has hired hundreds of quantitative researchers from top mathematics and physics programs, suggesting AI is now competing directly for elite talent pools.
Networking giant Cisco announced on Wednesday it will cut nearly 4,000 jobs as part of a strategic restructuring focused on artificial intelligence investments. According to Business Standard, the company is making strategic investments in silicon, optics, security and employees' use of AI across the organization while reducing roles in other areas. CEO Chuck Robbins emphasized that "the companies that will win in the AI era will be those with focus, urgency, and the discipline to continuously shift investment toward the areas where demand and long-term value creation are strongest." The restructuring plan is expected to cost Cisco up to $1 billion, with about $450 million to be recognized in the fourth quarter and the remainder in fiscal 2027. The company currently employs approximately 86,200 people as of July 26.
Despite the workforce reductions, Cisco reported robust financial results that exceeded analyst expectations. The company posted revenue of $15.84 billion for the third quarter ended April 25, beating analysts' average estimate of $15.56 billion, according to LSEG data compiled by Business Standard. Cisco has secured $5.3 billion in AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers so far this fiscal year and raised its full-year order expectation to $9 billion from $5 billion previously. The company's networking product orders grew more than 50% in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, while data-center switching orders rose more than 40%. Cisco now expects fiscal 2026 revenue in the range of $62.8 billion to $63 billion, compared with its earlier forecast of $61.2 billion to $61.7 billion.
The Cisco cuts represent just another addition to a long list of technology companies cutting jobs in 2026, with artificial intelligence emerging as a significant factor. According to data compiled by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, artificial intelligence caused 26% of layoffs in April, making it the most frequently cited reason for workforce reductions for a second month. So far this year, 49,135 layoffs have been attributed to AI, ranking it as the third-largest cause of planned job losses overall. The tech industry saw the highest layoffs in two years in March 2026, with over 46,500 employees let go. Major companies implementing similar cuts include Block, which announced plans to eliminate half of its workforce in February, and Cloudflare, which made layoffs that will impact about 20% of its workforce. Layoffs by Meta Platforms are rumored to be expected at the beginning of May, with over 100,000 job cuts this year as companies try to balance controlling costs with significant investments in artificial intelligence and cloud technology.
Following the announcement, Cisco's shares rose more than 16% in extended trading, demonstrating investor confidence in the company's AI strategy despite the workforce reductions. The positive market reaction reflects the broader industry trend where companies are creating capital to invest in AI infrastructure. Microsoft's stock had previously ticked 1.15% lower to trade at $403.02 following its own layoff announcement, as reported by Reuters. The layoffs are part of a broader industry trend where tech companies are attempting to balance AI investments with cost control measures. A dark irony surrounds these specific layoffs, as millions of people use platforms like LinkedIn and Cisco's networking tools every day to find new jobs and connect with hiring managers, with hundreds of employees from these very companies soon needing to use these same platforms to search for their next employment opportunities.
