A recent post by Sam Altman has gone viral after drawing sharp reactions from developers online, many linking his comments to ongoing AI-driven layoffs across the tech industry.

Altman expressed gratitude to programmers who “wrote extremely complex software character-by-character,” but the message struck a nerve as companies like Amazon, Block, Atlassian and Meta continue cutting jobs while pivoting toward AI.

Critics pointed out the irony that OpenAI helped drive the rise of AI systems trained on human-written code—now being used to replace parts of that same workforce.

The post quickly drew thousands of responses, ranging from frustration to humor, with many users mocking the tone as out of touch amid growing concerns about AI’s impact on developer jobs.