SF-based Coinbase announces layoffs over AI, CEO says they're rebuilding as an 'intelligence'

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- AI is changing the way we work -- including more layoffs in the tech industry. The CEO of San Francisco-based Coinbase says the crypto company will lay off 14% of its staff.

In an email sent out to employees Tuesday, the CEO of Coinbase says that they're not just cutting costs or reducing headcount. The company says it's "fundamentally changing how we operate, rebuilding the company as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it."

Software engineer Shivam Goyal moved to San Francisco from Boston three months ago and now works in Mission Bay. He uses AI every day.

"It's a helping hand. For example, now we have tools like Chat GPT, Anthropic, Claude and everything, they are helping people like us to code better," said Goyal.

Goyal welcomes AI. But he also realizes that AI is why some people are losing their jobs.

MORE: Bay Area layoffs lead unemployed people on hiking journey in search of community

"My friends from India, they have been recently laid off," said Goyal.

Roger Lee is the founder of www.layoffs.fyi -- a website that has tracked all layoffs in the tech sector since 2020.

"I'm seeing an uptick of tech layoffs in these past few months. A lot of that is being attributed to AI. We've seen that announcement from Meta, from Block, from Amazon, and today from Coinbase," said Lee.

Lee explained the impact of the announcement.

"What leaders at Block and today at Coinbase are saying is that in order to take advantage of the power of AI, we need to reduce our headcount and realign our org chart so that the teams are constructed so they can use AI more productively," said Lee.

"There's a saying in Silicon Valley, and everybody's heard about it. AI will not take your job. People who know how to use AI will take your job," said Banafa.

MORE: Meta to cut 8,000 jobs, 10% of staff as it pours billions into AI

SJSU Engineering professor and tech expert Ahmed Banafa says changes are happening because of AI.

Many say Congress isn't doing enough to prepare for it.

"Congress is working on this. In the recent report by The New York Times, they're talking about $160 million for re-scaling or retraining, which is nothing. It's not going to help anybody in this case," said Banafa.

Goyal knows AI is a critical part of the workforce's future, but he says there are limits.

"I still believe that AI is like a co-pilot sort of thing. And it's not something that could easily replace human beings," he said.

ABC7 Eyewitness News asked the experts what positions could be created by AI. Banafa says companies use AI to save time and improve work efficiency. There will be jobs created, for example, to oversee a team of AI agents.