Is the AI Job Apocalypse Real? A Reality Check with Cal Newport

Podcast: Did the AI Job Apocalypse Just Begin? (Hint: No.) | AI Reality Check | Cal Newport

Published: March 18, 2026

Topics: Cal Newport, AI job apocalypse, AI washing, Jack Dorsey Block layoffs, AI in software development, LLM performance, agentic AI, AI hype, future of work, AI reality check

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Section Division Analysis

The podcast is structured around an introduction and three distinct stories, which provides a natural basis for sectioning.

Section 1: The Block Layoffs and "AI Washing". This section covers the initial news about Block's layoffs, Jack Dorsey's claim that AI was the cause, the media's amplification of this narrative, and Cal Newport's detailed debunking of the claim. He presents an alternative explanation and introduces the concept of "AI washing." 2....