AI is not firing office workers. It is slowing their pay and their hiring.

The stories

19 stories on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   AI is not firing office workers. It is slowing their pay and their hiring.

   6.7 points

   slower growth in real pay since 2023, in the jobs AI can most easily do

   employment in those same jobs did not fall at all [1][2]

   4.1%

   US unemployment in August, down on the month before

   Anthropic's boss had warned in May 2025 that AI could push it past 10% [1]

   52.8%

   of US business income paid to workers in the second quarter

   the lowest share since US records began in 1947 [2]

   20,000

   workers' worth of output Wipro says AI now produces

   Wipro moved those people to other work instead of firing them [3]

   What happened

   • A new study says AI is holding down office workers' pay, not taking away their jobs. [1]
   • Sania Edlich, a Princeton researcher, and Torsten Slok, chief economist at the investment firm Apollo, compared 321 US occupations. [1]
   • Since 2023, pay after inflation grew 6.7 percentage points slower in the jobs most exposed to AI than in the least exposed. [2]
   • The number of people employed in those jobs did not change.
   • The authors say firms are keeping AI's gains by holding down raises instead of cutting staff. [1]
   • Employers are also opening fewer new positions than before, especially for young people. [1]
   • US unemployment fell to 4.1% in August.
   • In May 2025, Anthropic's chief executive had warned AI could push it above 10%. [1]
   • Workers' share of US business income was 52.8% in the second quarter, the lowest since the records began in 1947. [2]
   • Wipro, one of India's biggest IT outsourcing firms, says AI now does work equal to 20,000 of its 243,000 staff, who were moved to other roles. [3]
   • Hang Ten, a startup run by former Infosys chief Vishal Sikka, says teams of two to four people now do projects that used to need about 30. [4]
   • Hiring has been slow for months, and nearly 4 in 10 US job seekers have quit a hiring process over an interview run by AI. [5]
   • The evidence is thin: only 11 of the 321 occupations met the study's high-exposure bar, and one economist says the sample is too small. [2]
   • Anthropic's own middle scenario for 2030 has pay for knowledge workers staying roughly flat. [6]

   Who is involved

   • Torsten Slok and Sania Edlich Apollo's chief economist and a Princeton researcher; their study of 321 jobs found slower pay, not fewer jobs [1]
   • Ben Zipperer an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning US research group; he says the study's sample is too small [2]
   • Daron Acemoglu an economist at MIT; he expects AI to hit US pay harder than US jobs [2]
   • Wipro an Indian IT outsourcing company with about 243,000 staff; it says AI now does 20,000 people's worth of work [3]

   How it unfolded

   1. 2023 pay in AI-exposed jobs starts growing more slowly than in other jobs [2]
   2. May 2025 Anthropic's chief executive warns AI could wipe out half of entry-level office jobs [1]
   3. June 2026 TCS, India's biggest IT exporter, says IT firms will slow hiring [3]
   4. Apr-Jun 2026 workers' share of US business income falls to a record low of 52.8% [2]
   5. August 2026 US unemployment falls to 4.1% as employers add 162,000 jobs [1][5]

   Why it matters

   The next test is whether the pay gap still shows up when researchers can measure more than 321 of the roughly 800 US job types. [2]

   How it works

   A pay rise depends on the other jobs a worker could take

   When firms need fewer new hires, workers have fewer places to go, and raises shrink even though nobody is fired.

   The twist

   Nobody has to be fired for AI to hold down pay. It is enough that fewer firms are hiring, because a raise is mostly what a firm pays to keep a worker who could leave.

   Step by step

   1. 1 A worker mostly gets a raise when another employer might hire them
   2. 2 AI lets each firm get more done with the staff it already has
   3. 3 So firms post fewer new jobs, especially junior ones
   4. 4 With fewer offers around, workers ask for less and firms offer less
   5. 5 Pay grows more slowly, while unemployment stays low

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • Wipro moving 20,000 workers' worth of work to AI

     Wipro kept its staff but needs fewer new ones, and TCS said Indian IT firms will slow hiring, so engineers have fewer firms to move to.

   • Job seekers quitting AI interviews

     An IT manager who has sent 600 applications since January cannot easily refuse a bad interview, because each opening is scarce.

   • UK workers paying for AI themselves

     Workers who fear being replaced pay for the tools and hide their use, instead of asking their employer to pay.

   Where you've seen this

   Company towns

   when one mill is the only employer, it can pay less because nobody has anywhere else to go

   Non-compete contracts

   a clause that stops a worker joining a rival lowers what the employer must pay to keep them

   Nurses in the pandemic

   hospitals raised pay once agencies offered travel nurses more money elsewhere

   The catch

   It only holds if the money firms save is not spent hiring people somewhere else, and one economist says part of the measured loss is exactly that.

   And the whole of it

   The manager who never posts a job, the graduate who never sees it and the worker who does not ask for a raise are all inside this. None of them can see the job that was never advertised.

   The truth

   • What is really going on A study of 321 US occupations says employers are keeping the gains from AI by giving smaller raises and posting fewer jobs, not by firing people. [1][2]
   • Why it works on people Unemployment is one familiar number, and at 4.1% it looks healthy, so a raise that never came and a job that was never posted do not show up as harm. [1]
   • Who gains Employers in office work that AI can do — Real pay in those jobs grew 6.7 points slower since 2023 while the number of staff stayed the same. [2]
   • Who pays Young people looking for office jobs — Employers are posting fewer new positions, especially for them. [1]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether AI is really what is slowing pay.

     Only 321 of about 800 US job types could be measured and just 11 counted as highly exposed. One economist says tech's hiring slump after the pandemic explains part of it. [2]

   Good news

   • US unemployment fell to 4.1% in August, and employers added 162,000 jobs.

1. 02

   Google's sealed ad order is made public

   What happened

   • A US federal court on Wednesday made public Judge Leonie Brinkema's 106-page order on Google's advertising technology, the software that sells ad space on websites. [7]
   • She ruled last year that Google broke the law to protect that business, and this month refused to make it sell part of it. [7]
   • The order says Google must make its ad tools work with rival products and share auction data with publishers. [7]
   • Google must also appoint an internal monitor to check it obeys. [7]

   Why it matters

   News sites that sell ads through Google get auction data they could not see before. [7]

   Google keeps its ad exchange and every other ad tool it owns. [7]

   US courts have now twice found Google a monopoly, in search and in ads, and twice declined to break it up. [7]

   The truth

   • Who gains Google — It keeps its whole advertising business; the order asks it to work with rivals, share auction data and appoint a monitor. [7]
   • Nobody knows yet

     What Google's monitor can see and do.

     We have read a report of the 106-page order, not the order itself, and the report does not say what powers the monitor has or when publishers get the data. [7]

   Good news

   • Websites that sell ads through Google will get data on its ad auctions, under a court order made public on Wednesday.
2. 03

   Oracle cuts jobs after a record quarter

   What happened

   • Oracle, the American business-software company that now rents out AI data centres, began another round of layoffs on Monday. [8]
   • Staff were emailed that their role was gone and that Monday was their last working day. [9]
   • Its workforce had already shrunk 13%, from about 162,000 to 141,000, in the year to 31 May. [8]
   • Days earlier it reported quarterly revenue of $19.3bn, up about 30%, and added $700m to its budget for job cuts. [9]

   Why it matters

   The money is going into data centres: Oracle spent $28.5bn on buildings and equipment in one quarter, against $8.5bn a year earlier. [8]

   About two-thirds of its staff work outside the US, and EU law requires talks with staff and a 30-day wait before large layoffs. [8]

   The truth

   • Who gains Oracle's shareholders — Analysts at TD Cowen put the yearly payroll savings from the cuts at $8bn to $10bn, which helps pay for data centres. [8]
   • Who pays Oracle staff cut on Monday — They were told by email that the same day was their last working day. [9]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How many Oracle staff lost their jobs on Monday, and in which countries.

     Oracle has not said, and it is not known whether European staff got the same same-day email that EU law does not allow. [8]

3. 04

   Reach cuts 220 newsroom jobs

   What happened

   • Reach, the British publisher of the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express and many local papers, is cutting 220 editorial jobs and closing three local news websites. [10]
   • Its chief content officer, David Higgerson, told staff that visits from Google had fallen 46% in a year. [10]
   • Reach blames Google answering more searches with AI-written summaries, so fewer people click through to news sites. [10]
   • About 60 new jobs in subscriptions and video make the net loss nearly 160. [10]

   Why it matters

   Britain's competition regulator ruled in June that Google must let publishers opt out of AI summaries without losing search ranking. [10]

   Those controls can take up to nine months to arrive. [10]

   KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo close in the meantime. [10]

   The truth

   • What is really going on The same week, Oracle laid off staff days after its revenue rose about 30%, and Reach cut 220 journalists after losing Google traffic to AI summaries. [9][10]
   • Who pays Reach's journalists and readers in Kent, Aberdeen and Galway — 220 editorial jobs go and three local news sites close after Google traffic fell 46%. [10]
4. 05

   Nvidia's boss rejects a legal pass to slow AI

   What happened

   • Dario Amodei, head of the AI lab Anthropic, proposed on Saturday that leading labs agree to slow their most advanced models, possibly with a waiver from competition law. [11]
   • US competition law normally bans rival firms from agreeing to limit what they make. [11]
   • Jensen Huang, head of Nvidia, whose chips most AI runs on, called new laws for this 'completely unnecessary'. [11]
   • David Sacks, who chairs the US president's science advisers, told the labs to slow down without asking for a waiver. [12]

   Why it matters

   OpenAI told reporters it has talked with Anthropic and Google about safety for weeks and does not think a waiver is needed. [13]

   Nvidia sells chips to both Anthropic and OpenAI, so a slower race could slow its own growth. [11]

   The truth

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether any AI lab will actually slow down.

     OpenAI says it has talked with Anthropic and Google for weeks but has published nothing. Meta and Nvidia say no new rules are needed, and Congress is away until after 3 November. [13][14][11][16]

5. 06

   Zuckerberg says each lab can keep itself safe

   What happened

   • Mark Zuckerberg, head of Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, wrote on Tuesday that every AI lab already has reason to build safely. [14]
   • He said labs would face large legal claims if their models caused harm. [14]
   • He pointed to Meta delaying its Muse AI agent from April to 8 September for safety work. [15]
   • He gave no sign Meta would join the slowdown Amodei proposed. [15]

   Why it matters

   Meta's own tests found Muse pulling up personal photos it had not been asked for. [15]

   OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk backed Amodei's call, so the biggest US labs are now split. [14]

6. 07

   Left and right rally against fast AI

   What happened

   • Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Chip Roy and Steve Bannon, Trump's former strategist, spoke on Tuesday at a 'Pro-Human Assembly' in Washington. [16]
   • The Future of Life Institute, a charity that campaigns on technology risks, organised it. [16]
   • Sanders and Representative Greg Casar have introduced a bill to pause advanced AI development. [16]
   • House Speaker Mike Johnson said the same day there can be no pause, because the US would lose its lead to China. [16]

   Why it matters

   The House leaves Washington on Thursday and does not return until after the 3 November election, so no AI law is likely before then. [16]

   President Trump has called the safety worries a hoax. [16]

7. 08

   Free-to-download AI trails the best by four months

   What happened

   • A report from Mozilla, published on 15 September, says open-weight AI models, which anyone can download and run, are about 4.4 months behind the best paid models. [17]
   • Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 costs about 30% as much as Anthropic's best model, and scored three points lower on one combined test. [17]
   • On a neutral test setup, Z.ai's GLM 5.2 cost a fifth as much per task as Anthropic's Claude Opus models and scored within a point of them. [17]

   Why it matters

   Eight of the ten most-used models on OpenRouter, a marketplace for AI models, had open weights in August, and most of the best open models are Chinese. [17]

   Mozilla's technology chief says paid models earn their price mainly on tasks taking eight to twelve hours. [17]

   The truth

   • Who gains Companies that use free-to-download AI models — DoorDash runs routine work on Kimi, an open model, and pays for Anthropic's model only on harder tasks. [17]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How far the four-month gap between free and paid AI models depends on the test.

     Paid models come with their own software for using tools, which can raise scores, and the only revenue split cited is from 2025. [17]

   Good news

   • AI models that anyone can download and run for free now come within about four months of the best paid models, at a fraction of the cost.
8. 09

   Insuring big tech's debt costs more

   What happened

   • Apollo Global Management, a large US investment firm, said on Wednesday that insurance against default on big cloud companies' bonds is getting pricier. [18]
   • The extra cost over the same insurance on bank bonds has grown to about 0.6 percentage points, from roughly zero in October 2025. [18]
   • Apollo's chief economist Torsten Slok blamed borrowing for AI buildings, rising debt and negative cash flow. [18]
   • Alphabet, Amazon and Meta are each expected to spend $25bn to $30bn more than they bring in. [18]

   Why it matters

   JPMorgan still told clients to buy Meta shares, while forecasting it could spend $65bn to $75bn a year more than it earns in 2027 and 2028. [19]

   Microsoft is the exception among the four, with positive cash flow of $33.4bn. [18]

9. 10

   California votes on its internet rules

   What happened

   • California's utility regulator, the CPUC, was set to vote on Thursday on the state's plan for $1.86bn of federal broadband money. [20]
   • The Trump administration requires states taking that money to stop enforcing net neutrality, rules that bar internet providers from blocking or slowing lawful traffic. [20]
   • The exemption would cover the whole state for up to 14 years. [20]
   • California and Illinois are the only states that have not finalised their plans. [20]

   Why it matters

   About 69% of California's share goes to five big providers, including Comcast, AT&T and SpaceX's Starlink. [20]

   Nearly 30 groups warn the deal could also put at risk a $20-a-month Verizon plan for low-income homes. [20]

   The truth

   • Who gains Big internet providers in California, such as Comcast and AT&T — Taking federal broadband money would free them from state net neutrality and price rules across the whole state for up to 14 years. [20]
   • Who pays Low-income households in California — Advocates say the broadband deal could put at risk a $20-a-month Verizon plan meant for them. [20]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether California will give up its net neutrality law.

     The regulator calls Thursday's vote a formality, while nearly 30 groups call it the beginning of the end; no lawsuit has been filed. [20]

10. 11

    US plans airwave sales worth over $100bn

    What happened

    • Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, the US telecom regulator, said on Wednesday that coming sales of radio airwaves could raise more than $100bn. [21]
    • The first, in 2027, sells 160 megahertz in the Upper C-Band, frequencies used for mobile data. [21]
    • Three more auctions are planned, to finish by the end of 2028. [21]
    • Carr said buyers now reach beyond AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, which carry nearly all US mobile service. [21]

    Why it matters

    SpaceX bought $17bn of airwave licences from EchoStar last year to sell phone and data service from its Starlink satellites. [22]

    Starlink had 9 million subscribers last year, small next to carriers with about $350bn of yearly revenue but growing much faster. [22]

11. 12

    Spain logs its first breach by an AI agent

    What happened

    • Spain's data protection agency, the AEPD, said on Monday it had its first report of a data breach allegedly carried out by an AI agent, software that acts on its own. [23]
    • Using a widely known AI model, the agent logged into a system, searched it for weaknesses, changed personal data and viewed invoices. [23]
    • The agency named neither the model nor the organisation attacked. [23]
    • It said the model's maker was not necessarily compromised. [23]

    Why it matters

    The agency said AI does not invent new attacks but makes old ones faster, leaving less time to catch them. [23]

    It gave no date for finishing its review. [23]

    The truth

    • Nobody knows yet

      Which AI model the agent in Spain used, and whom it attacked.

      The AEPD named neither and gave no date for finishing its review. [23]

12. 13

    EU child online-safety law due Thursday

    What happened

    • The European Commission, which proposes EU laws, was set to present its EU Kids Act on Thursday, with the social media age limit still undecided. [24]
    • Its expert panel recommended 13, while France supports 15. [24]
    • The plan targets features that keep children scrolling, not only what they see. [24]
    • Researchers got past the EU's proposed age-check app in under two minutes. [24]

    Why it matters

    Countries are moving on their own: France bans social media under 15, and Norway is writing an under-16 ban with fines up to 20 million kroner. [24]

    Any age limit means platforms must first work out who is a child, which means collecting data about users. [24]

    The truth

    • Nobody knows yet

      What age limit the EU Kids Act sets, and how it will be enforced.

      The text was not published before Thursday, the choice was still between 13 and 15, and no penalties had been proposed. [24]

13. 14

    Florida sues Netflix over children's data

    What happened

    • Florida's attorney general, James Uthmeier, sued Netflix on 9 September.
    • He says it collected detailed data on subscribers and their children and used it to sell advertising. [25]
    • The 66-page complaint quotes former chief executive Reed Hastings telling analysts in 2020 that Netflix did not collect anything. [25]
    • The state says Netflix records billions of actions, such as what users pause, replay or skip. [25]
    • Netflix says the case lacks merit. [25]

    Why it matters

    Netflix launched a cheaper plan with ads in November 2022, and Florida says it now lets data brokers such as Experian match their data with its own. [25]

    The suit also targets autoplay being switched on by default for children's profiles. [25]

14. 15

    Bending Spoons buys Miro for $1.36bn

    What happened

    • Bending Spoons, a Milan company that buys apps and runs them, agreed on 10 September to buy Miro, the online whiteboard, in a cash deal valued at $1.355bn. [26]
    • Miro has about $600m a year in recurring revenue and over 100 million users, nearly 4 million of them paying. [26]
    • It is Bending Spoons' second big software purchase in weeks, after Airtable, a $1.285bn deal that closed last week. [26]
    • The Miro deal should close by the end of 2026. [26]

    Why it matters

    Bending Spoons already owns Evernote, Vimeo and WeTransfer, and it says it usually reorganises the teams and changes how the products make money. [26]

    It raised $1.68bn when it listed on Nasdaq in July, so it has money to keep buying. [26]

15. 16

    UK workers pay for AI themselves

    What happened

    • Deloitte, one of the big four accounting firms, surveyed 25,000 UK workers. [27]
    • Of those using AI tools, 17% pay for at least one out of their own pocket. [28]
    • That adds up to about 958 million pounds a year. [28]
    • Almost a third use AI without their employer knowing, and half have had no formal training. [28]
    • Users said the tools save them about 70 minutes a week. [27]

    Why it matters

    Among weekly users, 64% worry their manager thinks AI could replace them. [28]

    In the US, the typical employer spends about $11 a worker a month on AI, according to data from the payments company Ramp. [28]

    How it works

    Workers who fear being replaced pay for the tools and hide their use, instead of asking their employer to pay.

    The idea, in story 01: A pay rise depends on the other jobs a worker could take →

    The truth

    • Who pays UK workers using AI — They spend about 958 million pounds a year of their own money on AI tools for work. [28]
16. 17

    Wayve hires Waymo's former finance chief

    What happened

    • Wayve, a self-driving startup valued at about $8.5bn, hired Elisa de Martel as chief financial officer. [29]
    • She held the same job from 2022 to January 2026 at Waymo, Alphabet's robotaxi company, as it raised $5.6bn. [29]
    • Wayve's software learns to drive from data instead of detailed maps, and it has deals with Nissan and Stellantis. [29]
    • It runs public rides in London with a safety driver on board, and Tokyo is expected next. [29]

    Why it matters

    Wayve has raised $3.2bn and now has to turn trials into paying customers. [29]

    Uber also wants to use its software for robotaxis. [29]

17. 18

    AI agents can now set up a company's WhatsApp

    What happened

    • Meta released a tool on 15 September that lets AI coding agents such as Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT set up a company's WhatsApp Business account. [30]
    • It uses MCP, a shared standard that connects AI agents to other companies' software. [30]
    • The agent can create the account, verify the phone number and write message templates. [30]
    • Before, developers moved by hand between several Meta websites and tools. [30]

    Why it matters

    PayPal, Stripe, GitHub, Slack and Salesforce already offer similar connections for agents. [30]

    It is a small example of setup work shifting from a developer to an AI agent. [30]

18. 19

    Y Combinator's newest startups lean to hardware

    What happened

    • Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley program that funds very young startups, held its Demo Day on 10 September. [31]
    • Investors told TechCrunch this batch leaned far more to hard science and hardware than before. [31]
    • Their picks included Atomarine, which plans nuclear-powered data centres on barges, and Nori, a $1,600 home robot that folds clothes. [31]
    • Atomarine says it has letters of intent worth over $4bn. [31]

    Why it matters

    Several picks aim at AI's power problem, including Parasma, which is trying to compute with human brain cells. [31]

    Investors said prices for stakes in the batch were far more sensible than in recent rounds. [31]