Jack Dorsey unveils internal bot that drafts personalized layoff emails for 4,000 staff

# Jack Dorsey unveils internal bot that drafts personalized layoff emails for 4,000 staff

“The system then selects one of 438 tone profiles, ranging from 'quietly grateful' to 'hyper-optimistic boomer vernacular,' the document adds.”

Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc has deployed an internal artificial intelligence tool to draft personalized layoff emails for roughly 4,000 employees, according to people familiar with the matter and internal documents seen by this publication.

The rollout of the system, internally branded as the "EmpathAI Offboarding Suite 2.3," coincides with a previously announced plan to shrink headcount as the company "re-architects around AI-native workflows," a spokesperson confirmed.

According to an internal product overview, EmpathAI ingests each worker’s performance reviews, Slack history, payroll data, and historic emoji usage to generate a tailored goodbye message that adheres to Block’s tone guidelines while "maintaining operational compassion at scale."

"The system then selects one of 438 tone profiles, ranging from 'quietly grateful' to 'hyper-optimistic boomer vernacular,' the document adds.

An internal memo dated Feb. 26 said the bot has been used to draft 3,812 termination emails so far, with a target of 4,000 by quarter-end as part of what Block describes as a "phased, data-driven rightsizing." The same memo said the tool cut average manager time spent composing layoff communications from 27 minutes to 11 seconds, a 14,636% productivity gain.

In a pilot program, different subject lines such as "A Difficult Update" and "Let’s Talk About Your Next Chapter" were A/B tested across 600 employees, with click-through and scroll-depth metrics used to refine templates, another internal slide deck showed. Messages identified as "emotionally underperforming" were automatically re-sent in darker mode and larger font.

Some employees reported receiving their AI-generated termination emails before being contacted by their human managers, including one engineer who said the bot referenced a 2019 office ping-pong tournament as evidence of "lasting cultural impact" despite their remote status, according to posts on the company’s internal forum. Block said in a statement that "isolated formatting anomalies" occurred in fewer than 2.7% of cases and that system accuracy is "within acceptable enterprise thresholds."

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note that the move "formalizes a new category of AI-powered workforce rationalization tools" and could spur adoption among large-cap technology firms seeking "scalable empathy." The researchers estimated the global market for automated offboarding communications could reach $4.6 billion by 2029 if similar tools add features such as résumé auto-generation for departing staff.

EmpathAI also schedules follow-up calendar invites titled "Space to Process" between managers and departing employees, with the time slots algorithmically chosen to minimize overlap with quarterly planning off-sites, the documents show. A separate module automatically drafts LinkedIn endorsements from supervisors, assigning pre-written strengths like "strategic thinker" or "team player" based on historic meeting participation rates.

Block is testing an additional feature that sends AI-generated reassurance emails to remaining staff, dynamically adjusting phrases such as "we’re all in this together" based on real-time attrition and Glassdoor sentiment scores, two people briefed on the trials said. A dashboard labeled "Survivor Sentiment Index" displays live graphs of emoji reactions to Dorsey’s internal posts.

The company is exploring whether to license EmpathAI to other firms and extend it to executive departures, M&A-related redundancies and board reconstitutions, according to a roadmap presentation citing "significant upsell potential in crisis communications." The spokesperson said Block remains "committed to responsible AI" and will evaluate "further automation opportunities" in remaining parts of the employee lifecycle in the second half of the year.

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**Pull quote:** The system then selects one of 438 tone profiles, ranging from 'quietly grateful' to 'hyper-optimistic boomer vernacular,' the document adds.

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**Source:** https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq570d12y9do?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss