AI Bubble? AI Layoffs? Let’s Talk About It.

Are we heading toward an AI bubble? Is AI really eliminating jobs or just providing an excuse for layoffs?

Nov 17, 2025

Last week, I was a guest speaker at the 76th Annual Salzburg Memorial Lecture Program at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. My presentation was on “The State of AI in Transportation Management,” but I began by addressing three questions about AI technology that are in the air today:

Are we heading toward an AI bubble?
Is AI really eliminating jobs or just providing an excuse for layoffs?
If all the promises of AI Agents in supply chain management come true, what will be left for us humans to do?

I addressed the last question in a recent post, “When AI Agents Run The Supply Chain,” so I won’t repeat myself here. But let me share some quick thoughts on the other two questions.

Trust and Trading Partner Compliance

As a follow-up to previous surveys on trust in supply chain management, this survey explores trust as it relates to trading partners complying with regulations (e.g., forced labor, environmental, global trade, etc.). If a trusted supply chain partner was found to have compliance or risk management issues, how would your organization most likely respond? What type of evidence do you require from trading partners for them to receive/retain “Trusted Partner” status?

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