GTM AI = Promotions, not only layoffs

If AI can handle the repetitive tasks, then it’s time to promote the people doing the complex ones.

There’s a strange trend in tech right now:

SDRs are being let go. Hiring is frozen. Promotions are paused. All while AI is being rolled out like it’s the new headcount strategy.

Let’s be clear:
AI didn’t eliminate the need for sales development. It reduced the need for the repetitive parts of it. That’s a good thing. But freezing the pipeline of people who could grow into closing roles? That’s a mistake.

If AI takes over the repetitive work, then what’s left is harder, more human, and more valuable. And yet companies are cutting people instead of preparing them for what’s next.

What AI Can Handle (and What It Can’t)

Most SDR workflows are predictable:

• Prospecting

• Lead scoring

• Contact enrichment

• Email follow-ups

AI can handle that at scale. Tools exist right now that write solid first-touch emails, automate research, and route accounts without a rep lifting a finger.

But here’s what AI doesn’t do:

• Earn trust

• Understand nuance in a buying committee

• Read emotional signals in a live call

• Guide internal champions through approval hurdles

• Sell change inside a risk-averse org

Those aren’t edge cases. That’s the job.

The Missed Opportunity in Promotions

Most SDRs want to become AEs. And most don’t. Not because they can’t. But because they’re too valuable doing the work nobody wants to replace.

Now there’s no excuse.

If AI is doing the grunt work, we can:

• Promote sooner

• Ramp AEs faster

• Give reps actual sales experience

• Build a stronger pipeline without growing the headcount list

Freezing promotions when AI has cleared the path makes no sense. It’s like paving the road and refusing to drive on it.

Layoffs Are Not a Strategy

If you’re cutting SDRs because AI can do part of their job, then you should also be promoting the ones who can do the part AI can’t.

But that’s not what’s happening. Teams are shrinking with no plan for the complex work AI doesn’t touch.

This isn’t about saving money. It’s about skipping steps.

AI can help scale conversations. But it doesn’t own relationships, or steer multi-threaded deals, or build internal consensus across five departments. Humans still do that.

Final Thought

Maybe the trade-off isn’t 1:1. Some roles may go. But laying off thousands without planning for what AI can’t solve? Well, that seems foolish.