Verizon just handed 13,000 workers their pink slips – and CEO Dan Schulman said cost cuts are "a way of life."
Now Elon Musk is drawing a line every other tech CEO is too afraid to draw.
And Ron DeSantis just said what millions of Americans have been screaming at their televisions for three years.
The Line Musk Drew That Silicon Valley Ignored
SpaceX just struck a deal with Anthropic giving the AI company access to 300 megawatts of computing power – enough electricity to run 300,000 homes.
That's not the story.
The story is what Musk attached to it.
AI companies that want a SpaceX computer have to prove their technology is good for humanity.
Cross that line – lose the access.
Musk controls the infrastructure other AI companies depend on to grow.
No infrastructure, no growth.
That's a real standard with real teeth – and it's more than Washington has managed in three years of hearings.
DeSantis saw it immediately.
"Pro-human for the win," he posted on X.
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/2052088974580068672?s=20
Then he said what your neighbors have been saying at the diner for years: it is "appalling" how many tech leaders are "supportive or indifferent" to AI supplanting the human experience.
He's right.
And the silence from every other CEO in America proves his point.
What Silicon Valley Won't Say Out Loud
Verizon's CEO Dan Schulman announced the largest layoffs in the company's history and told investors "cost reductions will be a way of life."
His predecessor spent eight years cutting nearly 45,000 jobs – and pointed to AI as one of the tools making those reductions possible.
Schulman is promising to go further.
He isn't the only one saying it out loud.
Microsoft's AI chief Mustafa Suleyman told the Financial Times that lawyers, accountants, project managers, and marketing professionals will see most of their daily tasks "fully automated by AI within the next 12 to 18 months."
https://twitter.com/rohanpaul_ai/status/2046331409657442519?s=20
Last week, Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside told Reuters that AI now writes more than half of his company's code – then announced 500 workers were out.
Revenue was up 16 percent.
They didn't need the people anymore.
Here's the part that should make your blood boil.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei spent the last year warning anyone who would listen that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years.
He said it at Davos in January.
He repeated it at summits, in essays, and in interviews all year long.
Then last week, Anthropic signed the SpaceX deal – and announced they're doubling the computing power behind their AI products.
The man sounding the loudest alarm is also building the engine.
Why the Musk Standard Is the Only One That Matters
What Musk did isn't just a business decision.
It's the only accountability mechanism that currently exists in AI development.
Congress is still arguing about social media regulation from years ago.
The companies building the AI have every financial incentive to move faster than any safeguard.
https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2052078386818760959?s=20
That leaves one option: the infrastructure providers.
When Musk says "prove you're good for humanity or lose access" – that's not a slogan.
That's leverage no regulator currently has.
DeSantis understood this immediately, which is exactly why his reaction matters.
The governors who grasp what's happening now are the ones who'll actually fight for their workers when Washington finally shows up with a commission report and a press conference.
Schulman and every CEO like him made a calculation: the quarterly earnings matter more than the 13,000 families who just lost their income.
Musk made a different one.
DeSantis noticed.
Your grandchildren will ask which side won.
Sources:
- Badar Shaikh, "Ron DeSantis Praises Elon Musk's 'Pro-Human' AI Vision After SpaceX-Anthropic Partnership," Benzinga, May 6, 2026.
- "SpaceX backs Anthropic with data centre deal amidst Musk's OpenAI lawsuit," Al Jazeera, May 6, 2026.
- Iain Morris, "Verizon CEO wants 'aggressive' cuts after Vestberg culled 45k jobs," Light Reading, October 31, 2025.
- "Verizon layoffs to hit 15,000 roles in 2026 as automation takes over," The HR Digest, January 16, 2026.
- "Microsoft AI Chief Mustafa Suleyman Says Most Professional Tasks Will Be Fully Automated By AI Within 12-18 Months," Benzinga, February 15, 2026.
- "Freshworks Layoffs 2026: AI Code Replacing Tech Jobs," The Workers Rights, May 6, 2026.
- Dario Amodei, remarks at Davos and Anthropic press briefings, January–May 2026, as reported by Fortune and Axios.
