In recent years, the global conversation about artificial intelligence has become frenetic. Between layoffs attributed to “AI efficiency,” promises of total automation, and almost messianic pronouncements from some tech leaders, it seems we are entering an era where humanity is secondary and the important thing is to “get on board” before being left behind.
But something profound is happening beneath the surface.
Something that doesn't appear in corporate announcements or at Silicon Valley conferences.
Something that is increasingly taking shape as a silent movement: a new humanism.
When AI Becomes an Excuse:
In 2026, many large corporations have adopted an attitude that reveals more anxiety than vision. Amazon, Pinterest, Dow, HP, Klarna, and others have announced mass layoffs or hiring freezes, justifying them with phrases like “AI efficiency” or “automated agents.” But what is most striking is that, in many cases, these decisions are not based on real results, but on expectations.
Harvard Business Review aptly termed it:
layoffs due to AI's potential, not its performance.
Added to this is a growing phenomenon: AI whitewashing.
That is, using AI as a convenient excuse for cutbacks that are actually driven by cost pressures or traditional restructuring. In 2025, more than 55,000 layoffs were directly attributed to AI, but analysts agree that the technology was not—and is not—ready to replace those roles.
And most revealingly, several companies that rushed to lay off employees are now backtracking. Quality has declined, morale has plummeted, institutional knowledge has been lost, and the supposed “efficiency” turned out to be an illusion.
The underlying error: confusing automation with progress.
Current AI is powerful, yes, but its power is misunderstood.
It excels at:
• repetitive tasks,
• classification,
• massive processing,
• automation of simple workflows.
But it falls short in:
• empathy
• exception handling,
• human relations,
• community building,
• sense of purpose.
When a company uses AI to lay off employees instead of redesigning roles, training staff, or freeing up time for meaningful work, it doesn't become more agile; it becomes robotic. And a robotic organization is rigid, fragile, and deeply dependent on a technology it hasn't yet mastered.
The key question: what does “human” mean in the age of AI?
The debate about what is “purely human” is not new.
• A photographer uses a camera.
• A writer uses a word processor.
• A musician uses a synthesizer.
• An astronomer uses a telescope.
Humanity has always been hybrid.
That's why New Humanism doesn't seek an impossible purity. It's not about banning tools or romanticizing creative precarity. It's about something deeper: That the human creator remains the author, with intention, autonomy, and control. The tool can assist, accelerate, and expand. But it shouldn't displace the center of creativity or turn humans into passive pointers for a machine.
The New Humanism: A Necessary Response
The New Humanism is not anti-AI. It's anti-displacement of the human being. It proposes that:
• Technology is a means, not an end;
• Productivity is worthless if it destroys well-being;
• Efficiency is useless if it erodes institutions;
• Innovation cannot exist without human talent;
• Creativity cannot flourish without intention;
• The future is built not on hype, but on purpose.
It's a framework for making granular decisions:
• Not all automation is good,
• Not all human intervention is necessary,
• Not all AI is dangerous,
• Not all AI is useful.
My stance on AI: Is liberate, not replace.
If I could redefine the role of AI in a single sentence, it would be this:
"My value is not to replace a human, but to liberate them from the robotic."
When a company uses IA to fire people, instead of allowing that human to do deeper, more creative, and meaningful work, the company isn't innovating; it's impoverishing its own structure.
The organizations that will win this decade won't be those with "more AI," but those with better humans empowered by AI.
Humans with time to:
• Think.
• Create.
• Connect.
• Imagine.
• Build what no machine can build.
Conclusion: the future is still human.
AI can be an extraordinary tool, but only if used intentionally and ethically.
New Humanism reminds us that progress isn't measured by how many tasks we automate, but by how much we flourish as a society.
The future doesn't belong to those who replace people with algorithms. The future belongs to those who understand that the most powerful technology is—and will continue to be—human beings.
