AI News: 4k RIF
Jack's 4,000 person (i.e., -40%) reduction in force due to "intelligence tools... paired with smaller and flatter teams" confirms the greenfield is below
Yesterday’s News
Feb 26, 2026: Jack @ Block | we're making @blocks smaller today
we’re reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000
you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition
we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong.
we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly.
a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong
to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today.
this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward.
Tomorrow’s Opportunity
Feb 28, 2026: Evolution Labs | AI Theory | The Greenfield Below
The past power was above us in organizations and the funding of such
The present and future power is below us in individuals orchestrating AIs
The agentic AI layer below the individual may be creating a comparable greenfield — a new frontier of productive capacity and investable opportunity
The conventional wisdom in venture capital is that you fund teams building organizations that will eventually become large. The emerging reality may be that you fund individuals building cognitive architectures — NI+AI systems where a single NI (or very small team of NIs) with extraordinary judgment coordinates a fleet of capable AIs toward goals that neither the NI nor the AIs could achieve alone.
For investors who invest into NI early — before the organizational overhead arrives, before the valuation inflates to match the output, before the rest of the market recognizes the structural shift — this may be one of the most asymmetric opportunities in the history of early-stage investing.
For operators who operate, fear not the future nor the RIF; rather fear not building, not iterating, not learning, not orchestrating.
A possible correction to Jack’s final statement above: “you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward.” Decrease the emphasis on “organization” (i.e., building and finding value above) and increase the emphasis on solo-NI or surgical-team-of-NIs (i.e., building and finding value below) orchestrating a committee or federation of AIs.
Prompt
{
"concept": "The Coast Live Oak Protocol: A Wabi-Sabi Brutalist Pruning",
"narrative_context": "Based on the '@blocks' transition to a learner, intelligence-first core: A brutalist, intentional pruning of an ancient system, revealing the remaining essential architecture.",
"subject_details": {
"primary_element": "A single, massive, wind-gnarled ancient Coast Live Oak tree, solitary on a rugged cliff-top.",
"pruning": {
"condition": "Drastically and intentionally pruned, showing numerous clean, recent geometric saw-cuts on multiple branches.",
"description": "Pruning scars have clean saw-cuts. The canopy is sparse but perfectly spaced to show the new 'smaller, flatter' architecture."
},
"the_fallen": {
"metaphor": "A precise, dense, circular blanket of pure white (#ffffff) blossoms covers the ground directly beneath the pruned branches.",
"flowers": [
"White lilies",
"Baby's breath",
"Small orchids",
"Moisture/morning dew droplets"
],
"meaning": "Represents the 4,000 departing (peace, generosity, love) supported by a 'generous' transition, separated from the active canopy."
},
"the_remaining": "Spare but vibrant clusters of resilient, perfectly spaced leaves in the canopy, integrated with the new intelligence core."
},
"intelligence_protocol_core": {
"source": "A central, intricate, geometric crystalline protocol interface deeply embedded in the heartwood of the trunk.",
"colors": ["#8c52ff", "#3f96afff"],
"description": "These core colors are an intense, systemic, iridescent pattern of quantum data filaments, flowing *through* specific bark channels to illuminate the points of 'interface' (where leaves connect to the branches)."
},
"environment_context": {
"location": "A desolate, rugged cliff-top in the Marin Headlands, SF Bay Area.",
"background_landmarks": [
"The Golden Gate Bridge",
"San Francisco city skyline (distant and heavily obscured)"
],
"atmosphere": "Quiet, honest, raw, a moment of profound, painful clarification. The fog creates an 'awkwardly human' diffused light.",
"lighting": "Deep dusk/blue hour, transitioning into night. Thick, pervasive SF fog."
},
"artistic_style": {
"medium": "Hyper-realistic photograph, captured on a medium format digital camera system.",
"palette": "Cool muted earth tones, deep brutalist blacks, muted blues (fog), pure white (flowers), vibrant systemic iridescent #8c52ff and #3f96afff.",
"texture": "Raw film grain texture, enhancing the 'awkwardly human' feel; micro-textures on bark and flower petals."
},
"technical_specs": {
"camera": "Hasselblad H6D-400cMS with Phase One IQ4 150MP digital back.",
"lens": "Razor-sharp Hasselblad HC 4.5/24mm wide-angle prime.",
"resolution": "Ultra-high, 16:9 aspect ratio.",
"depth_of_field": "Extreme, deep focus across the entire tree.",
"dynamic_range": "High dynamic range, deep blacks, sharp, defined shadows."
}
}
```http://googleusercontent.com/image_generation_content/5