AI driven layoffs in tech are not only a problem. For local economies, they are a real opportunity.

AI made building software cheap. Fewer people are needed to build the same thing. So a lot of strong, experienced talent is suddenly free.

At the same time, the hard part of AI moved somewhere else. It was never really about whether the models would work. That was a matter of time. It is about getting AI to run inside a real organization, with its existing processes, people, and data.

That work is local. It needs someone who understands the language, the rules, and how the place actually works. It cannot be imported. And it gets paid for by customers buying productivity, not investors funding growth.

This is where the people leaving tech come in. They spent years in demanding, applied environments, taking technology and making it work in the real world. That is exactly what the embedding work needs. They are the hands that can put AI to work inside traditional industries, one organization at a time. It is a new kind of company waiting to be built.

I made the full case in an op-ed for TheMarker.