A recent video titled “How Corporate Greed Is Killing the Tech Industry” caught my attention because it reveals a truth many in our field already sense. The modern tech industry, once celebrated for progress and creativity, has quietly shifted its focus from innovation to margin optimization.

According to a 2025 study cited in the video, tech CEOs are now earning in one year what their employees would make in three centuries. Since 2019, more than 800,000 tech jobs have been cut globally, while profits have risen by over 40%. These numbers should make all of us pause.

What's more concerning is the growing tendency to justify layoffs under the banner of AI transformation. The rhetoric says it's about efficiency and automation, but the reality is simpler and more cynical: it's about cutting expenses, not improving productivity.

AI as the Convenient Scapegoat

The industry often claims that AI is reshaping the workforce, but the data tells a different story. Companies such as Google, Meta, and Paycom have reduced thousands of jobs, citing AI integration and efficiency improvements. Yet, there is little evidence that these changes have resulted in measurable productivity gains.

In most cases, AI isn't replacing inefficiency. It's replacing people to boost short-term profits. Meta, for example, cut more than 10% of its workforce while increasing profits by over 20%. The savings came not from smarter automation but from smaller payrolls.

As the video highlights, this pattern is now common across the sector. The push for “AI-driven efficiency” is often just a new language for cost reduction at scale, leaving teams smaller, morale lower, and innovation weaker.

The Disparity We Can No Longer Ignore

In 1965, the typical American CEO made about 21 times the salary of the average worker. By 2022, that ratio had climbed to 344 to 1, and in some tech firms, it now exceeds 1,000 to 1. For example, Amazon's CEO earned around $40 million in 2024, more than a thousand times what an average employee made that year.

These disparities are not just numbers. They represent a structural imbalance where leadership rewards itself for “efficiency” while the people who build and maintain the systems face instability.

Tech was once known for empowering workers and encouraging upward mobility. Now, it risks becoming another engine of inequality, resembling Wall Street more than Silicon Valley's original spirit of innovation.

Innovation Without Integrity Is Hollow

As someone who has spent decades building systems and teams, I understand the pressure to reduce costs and operate lean. But when leaders use technology as a shield for greed, the damage runs deep.

AI can and should play a role in improving productivity, but not at the cost of people's livelihoods. The same tools that could elevate human potential are now being used to justify the erosion of trust, loyalty, and stability-the very foundations of good business.

Innovation is not just about building smarter systems. It's about building responsibly, ensuring progress benefits both the organization and the people who sustain it.

The Path Forward

At WAM DevTech, we see technology as a partnership between human intelligence and digital capability. We modernize internal systems quietly, efficiently, and ethically, not by replacing people but by giving them better tools to succeed.

If the tech industry is to recover its purpose, it must return to the idea that progress without humanity is not progress at all. Leaders must measure success not by the width of a profit margin but by the depth of trust they create within their teams and communities.

AI has immense potential, but it should never become the excuse for ignoring the people behind the code.