Don’t Want to Use AI? You’re Fired

Summary

WSJ Tech News Briefing

Episode: Don’t Want to Use AI? You’re Fired
Date: November 18, 2025
Host: Katie Dayton (The Wall Street Journal)

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Episode Overview

This episode examines two major shifts in the tech landscape:

• WhatsApp’s growing traction in the United States and its competition with iMessage on Apple devices.
• The evolving workplace reality where employees are now being let go not just for being replaced by AI, but for failing to use AI tools themselves.

The discussion features industry insights, corporate strategy, employee experiences, and the cultural impact of these changes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. WhatsApp’s Surge in US Popularity

Guest: Nicole Nguyen, WSJ Personal Technology Columnist
(Timestamps: 02:02 – 06:08)

• WhatsApp’s Historical Struggle:

  • Despite global dominance, WhatsApp lagged in the US due to iMessage’s popularity.
  • “If you travel pretty much anywhere internationally...a tour guide or your Airbnb host will try to get a hold of you on WhatsApp. But back in the US...the Meta-owned messaging app has struggled to gain traction as the iPhone's dominance keeps iMessage in prime position.” – Katie Dayton [00:34]

• Growth Strategies & Platform Expansion:

  • Investments in platform compatibility: now available on iPad, Apple Watch, and improved Mac/Windows apps.
  • Breaking into Apple’s “walled garden” so users aren’t confined to iMessage.
  • Nicole Nguyen: “Most recently this year, WhatsApp has been really investing on making sure it's close to parity with iMessage...now you can use WhatsApp on an iPad...a companion app for Apple Watch...and Meta is trying to break through Apple’s walled garden.” [02:02]

• Group Chat Advantage:

  • WhatsApp supports much larger groups (over 1,000), while iMessage caps at 32.
  • “Historically for Americans, that probably was a forum or email, and now it's WhatsApp because the app has video calling, audio calling, you can create polls. There are also a ton of tools for admins.” – Nicole Nguyen [04:01]

• Addressing “Green Bubble” Stigma:

  • Apple’s adoption of RCS (Rich Communication Services) aimed to improve Android-iPhone messaging, but wasn’t a “WhatsApp killer.”
  • RCS lacks end-to-end encryption and large group chat capacity like WhatsApp.
  • “RCS is still not end to end encrypted like WhatsApp. Also, you can't support the gigantic thousand person group chats like you can on WhatsApp.” – Nicole Nguyen [03:19]

• Monetization Moves:

  • Meta is “very delicately” introducing ads in the “Status” tab and increasing visibility for Meta AI chatbot.
  • These business priorities are “creeping into this distinct culture” that WhatsApp holds within Meta.
  • “Meta is approaching ads in WhatsApp very slowly because it knows it has to...balance this humongous precious social network...its long standing commitment to privacy, and also its desire to monetize.” – Nicole Nguyen [04:54]

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2. Workplace Revolution: Use AI or Lose Your Job

Guests: Peter Ciampelli (WSJ), Lindsay Ellis (WSJ Workplace Reporter)
(Timestamps: 07:14 – 12:01)

• New Employment Risk:

  • The threat is shifting from being replaced by AI to being replaced by colleagues who adopt AI.
  • “Companies are starting to cut workers who aren't embracing the technology and replacing them with those who are.” – Katie Dayton [07:14]

• Employee Training and Incentives:

  • Companies implement required AI training, practical skill-sharing sessions, and brainstorming meetings.
  • Incentives: cash prizes, desirable assignments for top AI users; in other cases, AI usage is tied to performance reviews.
  • Lindsay Ellis: “You have some companies that are incentivizing early adopters with cash prizes or with plum assignments. Other companies are saying this is going to be part of your performance evaluation.” [07:54]

• Case Study: Ignite Tech’s ‘AI-First’ Strategy:

  • Moved from encouragement to requirement:
    • “At one point last year, every Monday was dubbed an AI Monday...people had to spend their whole Monday experimenting with AI.” – Lindsay Ellis [09:09]
    • Employees self-assessed their AI use, which was run through ChatGPT to rank everyone; layoffs targeted lowest scorers.
  • Layoffs also affected even dissenting executives, including a Chief Product Officer who questioned the approach’s risks:
    • “He said...‘this technology is so early stage, if you do these widespread cuts and your AI plan doesn’t work...that is a huge business risk.’...He brought that up in a meeting and then a few months later he was among those who was pushed out.” – Lindsay Ellis [10:42]

• Why Some Employees Resist AI:

  • 40% of non-AI users don't believe it helps their work; 11% don’t want to change their workflow.
  • “You have both the technical limitations and also just the challenges of...encouraging broad adoption and making sure that your workforce is adapting to the change.” – Lindsay Ellis [11:32]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• WhatsApp Platform Expansion:
  “You can use WhatsApp on an iPad, which you couldn't for the first decade and a half that WhatsApp was around.” – Nicole Nguyen [02:20]
• iMessage Group Chat Limitation:
  “Imessage caps group chats at 32 people. And so as soon as a group chat gets over a certain size, it has to transition to another platform...now it's WhatsApp.” – Nicole Nguyen [04:01]
• AI Adoption as Job Requirement:
  “Ignite Tech...put all of those self assessments into ChatGPT and had ChatGPT rank all of the assessments...and then the company laid off the lowest scoring performers.” – Lindsay Ellis [09:09]
• Corporate Pushback on AI Hype:
  “He was advocating, he said, for a more nuanced talent strategy.” – Lindsay Ellis speaking on Greg Coyle, former Chief Product Officer at Ignite Tech [10:42]
• Employee Skepticism:
  “Upwards of 40% said that the main reason why they didn’t was because they didn’t believe it could help their work.” – Lindsay Ellis [11:32]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• WhatsApp’s US growth strategies: 02:02 – 06:08
• AI adoption and workplace consequences: 07:14 – 12:01
• Ignite Tech’s AI-first layoff policy: 09:09 – 10:42

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Episode Tone

• Journalistic and analytic, balancing tech optimism with realistic assessments of challenges and cultural shifts.
• Clear, concise, and relatable, drawing on real-world user and employee experiences.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode explores:

• How WhatsApp is exploiting technical upgrades, group chat features, and careful monetization to grow where it was once lagging.
• The new reality for workers: not adopting AI tools is becoming as career-limiting as lacking other basic technical skills, with real implications for job security and workplace structure.
• The tension between rapid innovation and workforce adaptation, highlighting both enthusiasm and skepticism toward AI's promised productivity boost.

Transcript

[Google Cloud Announcer]

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[Katie Dayton]

Welcome to Tech News briefing. It's Tuesday, November 18th. I'm Katie Dayton for the Wall street journal. For years, WhatsApp has lost an imessage in the battle for American texters. But lately something has shifted as millions of people start to gravitate towards the green app for the first time, we're taking a look at what's changed then. Workers have long feared being replaced by AI. Now at companies big and small, they're increasingly being shown the door because they're not using AI tools enough. Stay with us to find out the latest way AI is impacting employees. But first, if you travel pretty much anywhere internationally, chances are a tour guide or your Airbnb host will try to get a hold of you on WhatsApp. But back in the US the Meta owned messaging app has struggled to gain traction as the iPhone's dominance keeps iMessage in prime position. But that's starting to change. Monthly active iOS users last quarter were up 39% compared with the same period in 2020, according to Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Our personal technology columnist Nicole Nguyen is here to explain what happened now. Nicole, WhatsApp is owned by Meta, which was certainly never going to rest on its laurels, particularly when it's in competition with Apple. Can you take us through some of the strategies it's tried over the past few years to grow American users?

[Nicole Nguyen]

Well, a lot of the investment that WhatsApp has made in order to make it successful in other countries, particularly optimizing WhatsApp in low connectivity areas, also benefits its growth in the US but most recently this year, WhatsApp has been really investing on making sure it's close to parity with imessage in terms of device and platform support. So now you can use WhatsApp on an iPad, which you couldn't for the first decade and a half that WhatsApp was around. WhatsApp also released a companion app for Apple Watch. It also made investments in its Mac desktop app and its Windows 11 app. And so there are a lot of ways Meta is trying to break through Apple's walled garden. But now that people are using WhatsApp to engage with their outer network, parent groups, local community groups, school groups, church groups, they are starting to see the benefits of using WhatsApp over iMessage.

[Katie Dayton]

And one big issue that imessage has is this green bubble. How has WhatsApp kind of exploited that sense of shame or embarrassment that some people have around that in its communications?

[Nicole Nguyen]

Apple did try to improve green bubble cross platform messaging by adopting this standard called rich communication services last year. And this makes Android to iPhone texts even richer. You can send high resolution photos, you can send high resolution videos, you can send text messages over Wi Fi. But it was not a WhatsApp killer. RCS is still not end to end encrypted like WhatsApp. Also, you can't support the gigantic thousand person group chats like you can on WhatsApp.

[Katie Dayton]

Group chats are a huge part of the story that you wrote on this. Can you explain a little bit why that has been such an unlock for WhatsApp in the battle for messaging?

[Nicole Nguyen]

Imessage caps group chats at 32 people. And so as soon as a group chat gets over a certain size, it passed to transition to another platform. Historically for Americans, that probably was a forum or email, and now it's WhatsApp because the app has video calling, audio calling, you can create polls. There are also a ton of tools for admins. So it's just become a super app for anyone who's organizing large groups of people.

[Katie Dayton]

And the bulk of Meta's business obviously comes from advertising. For a while now, watchers of the company have been anticipating that leakage a little bit more into WhatsApp, which is free to use right now. Can you set the scene for how Meta is monetizing the platform right now and what might be coming in the future?

[Nicole Nguyen]

Meta is approaching ads in WhatsApp very slowly because it knows it has to very delicately balance this humongous precious social network it has in WhatsApp, which has over 3 billion users, its long standing commitment to privacy, and also its desire to monetize the platform that it invests a large amount in. So this year ads started rolling out in what's called status. It's a separate tab, separate from your chats, and not everyone sees it, but businesses and channels can display ads in this tab. This tab is not end to end encrypted. And also Meta AI, which is Meta's AI chatbot, now has more prominence inside of the private chat tab. But your chat with Meta AI isn't necessarily end to end encrypted. It's not private to you because Meta can view your prompts for safety reasons or also to train its feature models. So that's some ways that Meta's business priorities are creeping into this distinct culture I.e. whatsApp within the larger company that was.

[Katie Dayton]

WSJ personal technology columnist Nicole Nguyen. Are you a WhatsApp user? If you're a listener on Spotify, be sure to let us know in this episode's poll or leave us a comment with your preferred messaging app. Coming up, There's a new existential threat for employees, and it's not being replaced by AI. It's being replaced by somebody who knows how to use it. That's off to the break.

[Google Cloud Announcer]

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[Katie Dayton]

When Accenture's CEO Julie Sweet said the company would be quote unquote, exiting employees who weren't getting the hang of AI, the latest stage of the AI workplace revolution was born. Companies are starting to cut workers who aren't embracing the technology and replacing them with those who are. My colleague Peter Ciampelli spoke to WSJ workplace reporter Lindsay Ellis to learn more about the trend.

[Peter Ciampelli]

So bosses at these companies want employees to adapt to using AI, particularly by spending time training and experimenting with how they can integrate it. How are we seeing this play out in sort of the day to day of company life?

[Lindsay Ellis]

A lot of companies have integrated these required trainings on AI, digging into really practical skills and also sharing knowledge of how are you using this, how are you using this? And sort of having a brainstorm session among employees. But when it comes down to it, they also are using both sticks and carrots to make sure that their employees are in fact using this tech. That it's not just something that you attend a one off training and then you never open that tab again. So you have some companies that are incentivizing early adopters with cash prizes or with plum assignments. Other companies are saying this is going to be part of your performance evaluation. And in a few cases we've seen organizations push out individuals who are not using artificial intelligence in their day to day work.

[Peter Ciampelli]

So on the other end of the spectrum, there's an enterprise software company called Ignite Tech, which is one of the companies focusing on this sort of encouragement of employees adapting to AI. How have they implemented an AI first strategy?

[Lindsay Ellis]

At this point it goes beyond encouragement and goes into requirements. So basically Ignite Tech a couple years ago said, we are going to mandate AI across the company. Employees earned points for sharing on Slack what they were learning about AI. At one point last year, every Monday was dubbed an AI Monday. And so basically people had to spend their whole Monday experimenting with AI and sort of brainstorming, storming ways to speed up business processes. But then the company sort of went further. Employees were required to self assess how often they used AI. And afterward the company basically put all of those self assessments into ChatGPT and had ChatGPT rank all of the assessments and say these people are at the top, these people are at the bottom in terms of kind of self proclaimed AI usage. A human backstopped the ChatGPT analysis and then the company laid off the lowest scoring performers. Rounds of AI layoffs continued several times after that. And the company has really pushed to require this new technology.

[Peter Ciampelli]

Ignite Tech cut employees who weren't using AI enough or well enough. And they also cut employees who were outspoken against the AI strategy. And this wasn't always just the rank and file employees. One was the company's chief product officer. Can you tell us about that?

[Lindsay Ellis]

The chief product officer, his name's Greg Coyle. He said he was fully on board with AI's potential to improve the products and add new capabilities to the business. But he raised a flag internally. He said, basically saying that, you know, this technology is so early stage, if you do these widespread cuts and your AI plan doesn't work out the way you expected to, that is a huge business risk. He said he brought that up in a meeting and then a few months later he was among those who was pushed out. He totally acknowledges that AI is coming in his perspective whether or not you like it. But, but he was advocating, he said, for a more nuanced talent strategy.

[Peter Ciampelli]

So employees are feeling pressured to use AI, but why would they maybe not want to?

[Lindsay Ellis]

A good chunk of US workers who don't use AI, like upwards of 40% said that the main reason why they didn't was because they didn't believe it could help their work. And another fairly large chunk at 11% said that they didn't really want to change their workflow. So you have both the technical limitations and also just the challenges of incurring, encouraging broad adoption and making sure that your workforce is adapting to the change.

[Katie Dayton]

That was WSJ reporter Lindsay Ellis speaking to Peter Ciampelli. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. If you're a listener on Spotify, be sure to take this episode's poll or leave us a comment. Today's show was produced by Julie Chang with supervising producer Katie Ferguson. I'm Katie Dayton for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back later this morning with TMB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.

[Google Cloud Announcer]

Does it feel like working with AI is too much work? What if all the AI your business needed was in one place? That's Gemini Enterprise from Google Cloud, a simple, easy to use chat interface that connects Google's best models with your company's data no matter where it lives. Anyone, not just devs, can run AI agents that actually give time back and build AI tools with enterprise grade security. The best of Google AI is now for every business. Learn more about Gemini Enterprise at Cloud Google.

[Katie Dayton]

Com.