OpenAI has pentupled during the past two years to about 4,500 employees, according to company data. It is fighting many battles—not just against Google—and expanding into many new facets, like designing its own chips alongside Broadcom, so the personnel growth could be warranted. But does it still have the best people in the best roles? Newly onboarded management may see things differently, and that’s why the 10-year-old organization’s first major layoffs may be coming next year. If that happens, other AI labs could follow OpenAI’s lead with their own restructuring.
The other prediction on workers having to train their AI replacements is a bit black mirror, but will also likely happen.
Quote Citation: PARESH DAVE, “6 Scary Predictions for AI in 2026 | WIRED”, DEC 19, 2025 11:00 AM, https://www.wired.com/story/backchannel-2026-predictions-tech-robots-ai/