Snowflake CIO Says He Used Layoffs to Convince Staff to Use AI

Tech firms ranging from Block to Meta Platforms have announced mass layoffs in the past year, frequently citing AI as allowing them to do more with less people. In a variation on that approach Snowflake says it used layoffs to force software engineers to use AI tools and become more productive.

“At the time, my team hated me, but I thought it was a provocative way” to get them to use AI tools, said Snowflake CIO Mike Blandina, speaking during the company’s annual customer conference in San Francisco this week. He said older, senior engineers were more hesitant to use AI coding tools than younger, junior engineers.