Amazon Cuts 14,000 Jobs & OpenAI Ditches Non-Profit

Hello!

At Next.js Conf and Ship AI 2025, nobody was debating if they should use AI anymore. The only question is how fast they can make it work for them.

Coding has evolved into managing intelligent systems. All the top developers treat AI agents like junior devs. They give them a task, review what they come up with, and let them handle the repetitive stuff, so humans focus on architecture and clarity. 

In the end, those who figure out how to “train their AI teammates” fastest are the ones who will ship quicker and scale best. I picked the talks below to help you see what that looks like in practice, plus a few that I found most interesting:

• Aurora Scharff: Composition, Caching, and Architecture in Modern Next.js

• Simeon Griggs: Clankers and Content Operations 

• Ryan Vogel: Fully Integrated AI that Actually Ships 

• Christopher Burns: Why Your Consent Banner Should Be in Your Bundle 

• Pranay Prakash & Subham Pramanik: An Introduction to the Workflow Development Kit

This week’s issue looks into how you can improve your teammates (human and AI), but also some interesting changes in the industry. 

Sounds good? Then grab your coffee and enjoy Frictionless!

In the Queue

• 42% Fortune 500 Leaders Say AI Hurts Their Companies

• Amazon to Lay Off 4% Corporate Workforce

• How to Fix Any Bug

• Developer’s Guide to Migrating from Contentful

• OpenAI Goes for Profit, 

• Reddit Sues Perplexity for Data Theft

• Training Can Save Productivity from AI ‘Workslop’

Reduce Friction

Give Your Engineers a Kingdom

If every decision still runs through you, give your engineers their own “kingdoms”. These are areas they can truly own, like a service, app, or tool. Start with one or two each and give them space to make real calls. It’s amazing how much smoother things get when everyone runs their own castle. 

High Agency Matters

In my experience, it’s the doers who drive success, not the planners. Addy Osmani explains why people who take ownership and act, even without perfect information, consistently outperform those waiting for the ideal plan.

AI ‘Workslop’: The New Productivity Killer Only Training Can Stop

AI was meant to save time, but many teams lose precious hours to fixing low-quality, AI-generated content. Their problems lie in the lack of training. If you aren’t investing in your team’s AI education, you’re putting more obstacles in their (and your) path.

Leveling Up Teams Fast and Slow

Teams can improve in two ways: gradually, by helping weaker groups catch up, or quickly, by giving your best people the reins. The balance’s important, but if we’re stuck, I go for the fast fix. I give my best people space to lead and set the tone. It’s the quickest way I know to get a team moving again - do you agree?

Deepen Your Expertise

AI Agents Will Succeed Because One Tool is Better Than Ten

AI agents could finally bring order to the chaos of developer tools. Instead of jumping between ten different apps, they offer one interface that can chat, use APIs, and even write code across your stack. Stack Overflow’s new blog explores how this could turn the terminal into a command center and push platform engineering teams to expand the infrastructure behind it.

Migrate from Contentful to Sanity: A Complete Developer Guide

We’ve had a lot of conversations lately about when it’s time to move off Contentful, and this guide from our CTO explains it better than I ever could. It covers two full migration options, what to watch for with assets, SEO, and data, and why Sanity gives developers more room to build things their way.

How to Fix Any Bug

Dan Abramov shares a real debugging story that starts with a simple scroll bug in React and ends as a masterclass in problem-solving. He explains how to stop guessing and narrow the issue until you pin down its cause.

Build Your Own Database

After reading this, I’ll never look at databases the same way again. This excellent guide goes over how to build a key-value database from scratch and explains how data is stored, queried, and kept fast behind the scenes. Who knows, it might inspire you to build your own.

AI Corner

Microsoft, OpenAI Reach Deal Removing Fundraising Constraints for ChatGPT Maker

OpenAI has officially restructured into a public benefit corporation, freeing it from fundraising limits tied to its nonprofit roots and paving the way for a likely IPO. The deal cements Microsoft’s 27% stake, which is worth about $135 billion, and removes its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s compute infrastructure.

Amazon Cuts 14,000 Corporate Jobs as Spending on Artificial Intelligence Accelerates

Amazon is cutting about 4% of its corporate workforce as part of Andy Jassy’s push to double down on AI. Jassy calls it a long-term bet that every customer experience will be reinvented with AI, which could be a “tipping point from human capital to tech infrastructure.”

‘AI is Tearing Companies Apart’: Writer AI CEO Slams Fortune 500 Leaders for Mismanaging Tech

At TED AI, Writer AI CEO May Habib shared that 42% of Fortune 500 executives say AI is hurting their companies. She blames it on leaders handing AI off to IT instead of leading the change themselves. Her advice is to confront employees’ fears and build workflows where ambition, not bureaucracy, sets the pace.

Just Cool

Reddit Caught Perplexity “Red-Handed” Stealing Data from Google Results

Looks like Reddit’s taking Perplexity to court. The social platform is accusing the AI company of swiping Reddit posts straight from Google results. Perplexity insists it was just “summarizing public info”. Reddit wasn’t having it, calling that excuse “bank robber logic”.

Let’s Stay in Touch! 📨 

Do you have any comments about this newsletter issue or questions you want to ask? Drop me a message or book a meeting.