Workers watch out. This tech CEO might be coming for your job as he shares on social media why he’s glad he fired an entire team and replaced them with AI. Ouch.
As we culturally take a turn away from “girl bossing” towards more work-life balance with the popularization of “lazy girl jobs,” Suumit Shah, the CEO of India-based e-commerce platform Duukan is encouraging other leaders to follow his lead and cut these jobs in favor of cheaper AI alternatives.
So-called “lazy girl jobs” get a bad rap, with people thinking they’re easy jobs that require low effort. However, the term was popularized by TikToker Gabrielle Judge to describe low-stress jobs that pay well—a dream combination for many workers. These jobs are often remote and offer workers flexible schedules.
In an interview with Insider, Judge said these roles allow people to “still have energy to invest into the things they really care about.”
One TikToker with a lazy girl job shared that much of her day-to-day includes copying and pasting information and taking a few calls in exchange for being able to take breaks as needed and earning a good income.
Another said, “there’s nothing lazy” about expecting to have a job that pays you well, gives you a good work-life balance, and doesn’t overwork you. She added that what Americans consider a “lazy girl job” is just a job in places like Europe. She added that these jobs are also highly competitive and few people are actually slacking off since companies with lazy girl jobs are few and have high standards.
Earlier this year, Shah shared on Twitter that he made the “tough” but “necessary” move of firing 90% of his customer support team (which some would categorize as a lazy girl job depending on the workload) and replaced them with AI chatbots.
He shared that the chatbots can do the job efficiently a human can’t compete with, cutting response time from just under two minutes to instant and resolution time from two hours and 13 minutes to a bit over three minutes.
“Given the state of economy, startups are prioritizing “profitability” over striving to become “unicorns,” and so are we. It’s less magical, sure, but at least it pays the bills!” Shah wrote in a tweet.
But many people aren’t impressed with the numbers, noting that Shah is taking away jobs in the midst of a global cost of living crisis.
“What happened to your empathy towards those customer support people? You fire 90% of them, 90 families probably are crying at home, and feeling sad and hopeless. But you come to celebrate on Twitter,” a person on Twitter responded.
“What a douche this CEO is,” a Redditor wrote.
“The lack of empathy and glee while announcing lay offs is horrible. Do most of you talk like this for extra engagement? It’s sick,” a person on Twitter said.
Earlier this year, IBM conducted a study that found about 75% of CEOs around the world are eager to implement AI in their businesses further, citing increased productivity as their top reason for the switch. However, they have mixed reactions about how they would allow AI to affect their workforce.
The Daily Dot reached out to Shah via email.