AI NewsSam Altman’s thank-you to coders draws the memes

Sam Altman’s thank-you to coders draws the memes

5:12 AM IST · March 19, 2026

If you need a cathartic release from the news thatAmazon laid off 16,000 workers,Block choppednearly half its workforce,Atlassian pared back 10%of staffers, and Meta is reportedly considering anothermassive round of layoffs, all in the name of AI, then we invite you to browse the responses to a recent Sam Altman post on X. Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, shared this on Tuesday: “I have so much gratitude to people who wrote extremely complex software character-by-character. It already feels difficult to remember how much effort it really took. Thank you for getting us to this point.” Altman shared on Tuesday. I have so much gratitude to people who wrote extremely complex software character-by-character. It already feels difficult to remember how much effort it really took.Thank you for getting us to this point. The problem with that sweet sentiment is that Altman’s company ushered in the AI now being used as an excuse for developer layoffs andfewer junior developer jobs. And it did so by training on massive volumes of code written the old-fashioned way — by the very people he’s now thanking. His post implies that developers’ genuinely difficult-to-master craft is now like a rotary telephone: outdated and unnecessary. Naturally, Altman’s comments attracted memes and responses richer than his post. While some were straight-upangry, (“You’re welcome. Nice to know that our reward is our jobs being taken away”), much of the internet did what it always does: cracked jokes. There are thousands of comments. Some of our favorites: “Sam’s eulogyfor software engineers”“It’s times like this when I reallymiss the Sam Altman parody account” “Dear devs You will lose your jobs foreverand be forced to work in the coal mines But you can rest easy knowing sam Altman is grateful. ❤️ 🙏” “Billion dollar app idea: AI that reads billionaire tweets before they post them and says ‘this is going to make you sound incredibly out of touch, are you sure?’” “I have gratitude to OpenAIfor doing all the AI work so I can have free Chinese open source AI models to use 🙏” “This reads like somethingthe Mayans would say right before the ceremony starts.” And finally, another reason to trot out this meme: pic.twitter.com/YLn5U8Fqx5