Laid-off Block employees say they were embracing AI tools in what one called an almost "celebratory" way. Then it replaced them.

Block said Thursday it's laying off more than 4,000 employees, or about half of its head count. Shares of the payment company skyrocketed as much as 24% in extended trading. It was last seen up nearly 18% in Friday's premarket.

Jack Dorsey’s Block is cutting 4,000 employees, reducing its workforce by nearly half, in a move the financial technology firm is describing as a bet on artificial intelligence changing the

Block is cutting 4,000 jobs as, according to company chief Jack Dorsey, AI tools and flatter teams are proving more productive.

Block beat views on growth in its consumer lending unit as writeoffs soared. With 40% of workers out, can AI replace them? If others follow, it could be AIpocalypse now.

Jack Dorsey's Block reports earnings and fires 40% staff.

About 4,000 workers will lose their jobs as the payments company does more work with new artificial intelligence tools, its top executive said.

Shares of Block rallied after co-founder Jack Dorsey announced a plan to cut nearly half the payment company's workforce and restructure it for an AI future. The Square and Cash App owner's stock w

Block, the fintech group headed by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, will cut its workforce by “nearly half” in one of the clearest signs of the sweeping changes AI tools are having on employment. Shares in the payment company soared more than 25 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday as it announced it would shed more than 4,