Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, the share of AI in workforce-related discussions has skyrocketed almost exponentially. It's not just the tech industry—non-tech industries are also rapidly integrating AI into their workforce strategies, and the proportion of AI in layoff-related discussions is surging as well. AI is no longer just a substitute for the tech department; it has become a core variable for all industries and management levels when discussing workforce, costs, and efficiency. Companies related to AI are seeing job openings decline faster, and companies discussing AI in layoff contexts are laying off employees more quickly. For many businesses, AI has already become a cost-optimization tool. I previously shared a perspective: if a technological breakthrough can simultaneously transform the efficiency of capital, the efficiency of labor, and the cost structure of enterprises, it has the foundational characteristics to ignite an industrial revolution. The First Industrial Revolution was about the steam engine transforming energy efficiency. The Second Industrial Revolution was about electricity transforming production efficiency. And now, AI is transforming cognitive efficiency and decision-making efficiency. This means the core bottleneck of productivity is shifting from machinery and energy to cognition and management. When a company can use AI to increase the marginal output of employees, compress fixed costs, eliminate repetitive tasks, and automate complex processes, its economies of scale will grow faster and more thoroughly than in any previous era. A true industrial revolution happens when technology redefines the relationship between unit cost, unit labor, and unit output. AI is now moving in this direction: the same number of people can accomplish ten times the work, the same number of positions can support a much larger enterprise, and the same amount of capital investment can yield significantly higher returns. Companies are no longer using headcount expansion as a growth metric; instead, they are focusing on expanding algorithmic capabilities. Investors are no longer paying attention to the size of a company's workforce but rather to its model capabilities, data assets, and level of automation. This might just be the Third Industrial Revolution. Bitget VIP: Lower fees, bigger perks.