Conclusion

Let’s get straight to the point. The side that has been laid off due to AI is now the most affordable and capable.

Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, stated unequivocally, “AI has made certain jobs unnecessary.” Meta has repeatedly conducted layoffs affecting thousands, and Standard Chartered has announced plans to lay off around 7,800 employees, with its CEO referring to those being let go as “low-value talent.”

Many may feel anger at this statement. However, what we should consider here is not emotion but structure.

Are the talents that large corporations deemed ‘high-cost’ truly ‘low-value’?

No. They were simply judged to be “not worth it at the salary levels of large corporations.” Back-office personnel with annual salaries ranging from 8 to 15 million yen were handling tasks that could be automated by AI. For large corporations, the decision was straightforward: “Replacing them with AI would save billions of yen annually.” That’s all there is to it.

So, what happens if these talents, with salaries of 4 to 6 million yen, enter small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while skillfully utilizing AI tools? With half the cost, they bring skills honed in large corporations and are accustomed to collaborating with AI. This is the essence of the “reversal structure.”

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What’s Happening—Common Patterns Emerging from Layoffs at Three Companies

Let’s organize what is currently happening.

Cloudflare has halted the hiring of junior-level engineers due to the proliferation of AI coding tools. CEO Prince clearly stated, “Tasks that previously required ten people can now be handled by two or three with AI.” The hiring slots for new graduate engineers are disappearing.

Meta has laid off over 20,000 employees cumulatively since 2023. Recently, the focus has shifted to “middle management roles that can be replaced by AI.” Internally, training videos for AI have leaked, leading to ironic situations where laid-off staff remarked, “They made us train the AI that would take our jobs.”

Standard Chartered plans to reduce around 7,800 positions through AI automation of back-office operations, estimating annual cost savings of $1.5 billion (approximately 220 billion yen).

What these three companies have in common is the judgment that “there is no longer any rationality in continuing to employ talent handling tasks that can be automated by AI at the salary levels of large corporations.”

It is important to note that the laid-off personnel are not “incompetent.” They are familiar with the systems, workflows, compliance, and project management of large corporations. Many have experience in global operations in English. However, they have been deemed “more expensive than AI” on the salary tables of large corporations. That’s all there is to it.

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Using AI Colleagues via iMessage—The Laid-off Begin Their “One-Person Teams”

Interesting movements are emerging.

Laid-off engineers and project managers from tech companies are starting to run businesses alone by using AI agents as “colleagues.” In one case, they issue instructions to an AI agent via iMessage, handling research, document creation, code generation, and drafting customer responses.

What used to require a five-person team costing 2 million yen a month can now be managed by one person plus a group of AI agents for 300,000 to 500,000 yen a month. Costs have dropped to less than a quarter.

This is not just about “amazing tools emerging.” It’s a structural change where, when “business design skills honed in large corporations” are combined with the “execution capabilities of AI agents,” individuals can produce outputs equivalent to those of organizations.

They can break down tasks into processes. They know where to delegate to AI and where human judgment is necessary. Because they have been trained in “systematization” in large corporations, they excel at collaborating with AI.

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Why This Becomes a “Weapon” for SMEs

Now we get to the main point.

What is the biggest challenge faced by local SMEs? “The inability to hire people.”

They cannot offer the same salaries as large corporations in Tokyo. New graduates do not come. Mid-career professionals do not come either. As a result, the president ends up doing everything. Personalization progresses. Systematization seems like a distant dream—this is the reality.

However, the talent being released from large corporations is thinking this way:

• Fully remote work is fine.
• Even if the salary decreases, they want autonomy.
• They want to achieve results directly with their skills.
• They want to work in a way that utilizes AI with a small team.

This demand and supply are finally starting to align.

What can they specifically do? Here are some examples.

① Systematization of Accounting and Back Office
Personnel who managed accounting operations at Standard Chartered will redesign accounting for SMEs, incorporating AI tools. Monthly closing that used to take ten days can now be done in three. Outsourced bookkeeping (costing 50,000 to 100,000 yen a month) will become unnecessary.

② Standardization of Sales Processes
Personnel who handled sales operations at Meta will organize the sales flow for SMEs and create a system combining CRM and AI. They will transform the state of “we can’t operate without that person” into a situation where anyone can achieve a score of 70 in sales.

③ Automation of Recruitment and Public Relations
Experienced HR and PR professionals from large corporations will systematize the creation of job postings, management of social media, and initial screening of applicants using AI. Recruitment costs will be less than a third of those through recruitment agencies.

The key point is that there is no need to hire these talents as “full-time employees with a salary of 6 million yen.” They can be contracted for 200,000 to 400,000 yen a month, working two to three days a week. Even including the monthly fees for AI tools, SMEs can acquire the entire system for less than half the cost of one traditional full-time employee.

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Not “Imitating Large Corporations” but “Picking Up What Large Corporations Have Discarded”

When it comes to AI utilization in SMEs, many people have the image of “doing what large corporations are doing on a smaller scale.” Let’s implement ChatGPT, let’s pursue DX, and so on.

That’s not the case.

What is happening now is a structural change where SMEs can pick up the talent, know-how, and business design capabilities that large corporations have “discarded” in their AI implementation at a low cost.

Large corporations have replaced talent with annual salaries of 10 million yen with AI. That talent is now entering the market. SMEs can utilize that talent as contractors or freelancers at less than half the cost of large corporations. Moreover, that talent is capable of effectively using AI tools.

We are entering an era where the “systematizable talent” that used to cost 3 million yen to hire can now be acquired for a monthly contract of 300,000 yen.

This is a reversal that large corporations cannot achieve. Large corporations take six months for “company-wide implementation,” “security reviews,” and “approval processes.” SMEs can start as soon as the president says, “Let’s do it.” This speed is the greatest weapon for SMEs.

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So, What Should We Do?

Let me state three points.

1. Think about “who to involve” rather than “what can AI do”
Before selecting tools, connect with talents who can effectively use AI. Look for “former large corporation × AI utilization” talents through crowdsourcing or freelance matching. We are in an era where they can be surprisingly easy to find.

2. First, have one task systematized from the outside
There’s no need for company-wide DX. Choose one task that is the most personalized—accounting, sales, recruitment, customer support. Inject AI × external talent into that task and create a system within three months. With an investment of 200,000 to 400,000 yen a month, you can expect to save several million yen annually or increase sales.

3. Shift your mindset from “hiring” to “collaborating”
The era of being fixated on hiring full-time employees is coming to an end. Even with contracted work for two days a week, using AI can yield outputs exceeding those of full-time employees working five days a week. Instead of “hiring people,” think of it as “buying systems” and collaborate with external talents.

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This Trend Will Not Stop

Cloudflare has stopped hiring new graduate engineers. Meta has cut middle management. Standard Chartered is laying off 7,800 employees. This trend may accelerate, but it will not reverse.

Every time large corporations cut jobs, talented individuals flood the market. These individuals possess skills for collaborating with AI. And they are willing to work even at salary levels lower than those of large corporations.

The first to capitalize on this structure will not be large corporations but agile SMEs.

To the president who thinks, “This has nothing to do with us.” If a former Standard Chartered employee could systematize your accounting with AI tools for 250,000 yen a month, could you still say it has nothing to do with you?

Pick up what large corporations have discarded. That will become the strongest strategy for SMEs by 2025.