Meta cut 7,000 jobs while training AI on its own engineers, a warning sign that white-collar work is the most at risk from AI.

• Meta laid off 7,000 staff and a leaked meeting showed Zuckerberg telling engineers the AI is learning from watching them code.
• A widely shared job-risk chart marks software developers, lawyers, accountants, HR, admin, and customer service as high risk, while plumbers, electricians, nurses, builders, and delivery drivers stay safe.
• Meta is still paying staying engineers huge money, with senior packages from $700k up to several million a year, so headcount shrinks but pay per head rises.
• The bigger worry is robotics plus AI hitting both thinking jobs and physical jobs, forcing a rethink of how a capitalist economy handles less need for human labor.
• Pushback in the room: workers should make themselves more valuable and learn new skills, and skilled trades and people-facing jobs will outlast desk jobs.

Outlook: More white-collar layoffs are coming, pay will concentrate among fewer high-skill workers, and trades and human-facing roles look like the safer bet.