The technology sector, which has created the most powerful neural networks in history, has itself failed to withstand the consequences of its own invention. While algorithms learn to code, conduct negotiations, and replace entire departments, their creators find themselves visiting psychiatrists and confessing that they do not know who they are without their jobs. The numbers speak for themselves.
Throughout 2026, more than 120,000 people were laid off in the technology sector as leading companies massively cut staff. Surveys have recorded a sharp increase in fatigue and emotional stress, while career optimism among professionals has seen a significant decline. Engineers who train these models often arrive for appointments feeling a sense of personal guilt for the dismissal of others, as they directly witness the impact of their created systems on colleagues.
On the other hand, there is so-called liquidity anxiety, where professionals live for many months with a sense of paper wealth without actual access to cash. When stocks finally vest, it is often not joy that sets in, but emptiness, which experts describe as the achievement paradox. People have spent years striving for a financial goal, but upon achieving it, they feel only apathy.
Some employees describe working with the new tools as a genuine miracle, yet even they admit that in the near future their profession may simply cease to exist. As a result of all this, many are beginning to look for meaning outside of corporations, moving on to charitable projects or changing their field of activity, while experts recommend building an identity independent of professional work.
The race among tech giants has long gone beyond a purely economic dimension and has begun to directly reshape human psychology. When a creator is forced to combat the consequences generated by their own invention, it speaks to the systemic tension present in the industry.
These developments show that in the coming years, the transformation of the labor market will require not only technical but also new social and psychological approaches. The loss of individual identity could become one of the most serious challenges of the new decade for professionals.
