Bybit CEO Ben Zhou: Companies Are Using AI as a Cover Story for Layoffs They Already Wanted.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou pushed back on the growing narrative that AI is forcing mass layoffs across the tech industry, saying in an April 23 interview with When Shift Happens that many firms are simply using the technology as a convenient excuse to cut headcount they were already planning to reduce.

Zhou acknowledged that internal spending on large-model tokens is rising quickly at Bybit, but argued the actual efficiency gains remain difficult to quantify — making it hard to justify workforce reductions on AI grounds alone. His view is that the current moment resembles the early adoption of spreadsheet software: a genuine structural shift, but one whose departmental impact still needs to be mapped out through real-world testing.

The comments land as a counterweight to a wave of corporate announcements citing AI-driven productivity as the rationale for headcount cuts — a framing Zhou…