Systems administrator says a small firm terminated them and its lead developer, replacing both with an Anthropic AI subscription (first-person account)
In a public post to r/jobs titled 'We were replaced with AI', created on 24 October 2026, a server and network administrator writes that they and the company's lead developer were terminated that day: their access to various systems was revoked and the chief executive then called them, with major budget cuts as the theme of the call. The poster writes that both were replaced with 'the Anthropic subscription' and, in a reply, that it is an Anthropic subscription of 180 dollars a month that the chief executive mentioned, and that staff had seen him using it to scan the company's infrastructure days earlier. In replies the poster says the company is small, located in Australia, and that they worked for it remotely, that finance staff had calls with the chief executive scheduled for the following Monday, and that they feel their years of loyalty were thrown away. The company is not named. The account is the poster's alone and uncorroborated; no employer statement was retrieved.
- AI system
- Claude (reported)
- Occurred
- Oct 2026
- Reported
- 24 October 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Relation unknown
- Reported harm
- Professional HarmPsychological Distress
- Whose AI use
- An institution’s AI use
- Setting
- Work
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 5 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 2 people
AI system as recorded: An Anthropic subscription of 180 dollars a month which, by the poster's account, the chief executive mentioned and had used to scan the company's infrastructure; the poster refers to the product as 'claud'
What Happened
The termination. The poster writes: "Just got terminated today. Both myself(server admin and network administrator) and the lead developer." Access to various systems was revoked, "Then followed up with a call from the CEO." They write that the call's theme was "we are doing major budget cuts" and that they understand the decision "from a business perspective but still it sort of hurts to part ways".
The AI replacement. In the post: "We were both replaced with the Anthropic subscription, and the CEO seems to want the business head over the fully AI mode". Asked by a commenter whether they were actually replaced with AI or with offshore developers using AI, the poster replies: "Its AI. Anthropic subsc. Of 180 $/ month . Ceo mentioned that. We saw he was using it to scan the infrastructure days before this." In another reply the poster says the chief executive "wants to run the show with agents now".
Effect on the poster. The poster writes that they are "still processing the loyalty of the 7 years. Thrown away, cause there is a corner cutting tool" and that they did not expect "a termination cause of an AI model". They say sales were not doing badly, so nobody expected a termination. The poster says the company is small and located in Australia and that they worked for it remotely.
Reported harm
The poster says they and the company's lead developer lost their jobs when the chief executive replaced them with an Anthropic AI subscription, and that they feel their years of loyalty were thrown away (first-person account, uncorroborated; the stated theme of the termination call was budget cuts).
Outcome
OngoingAt the time of the post the poster had lost the job and was planning to look for other work. In replies the poster says the company said it might offer occasional paid work, which the poster calls a brush-off and is unsure about accepting, and that finance staff had calls with the chief executive scheduled for the following Monday. No employer statement, severance terms or new employment is reported.
What remains unknown
- The company's name and the poster's and lead developer's locations.
- The employer's own stated reason beyond budget cuts, and whether the subscription is doing the work.
- The exact date of the termination in the poster's time zone, and the terms of separation.
- Whether the finance staff were affected.
- Whether the account is accurate: at least one commenter in the thread doubted parts of it, and only the poster's replies answer that doubt.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The poster says they and the lead developer were replaced with an Anthropic subscription of 180 dollars a month that the chief executive mentioned, and that staff had seen him using it to scan the company's infrastructure days before. This is a reported institutional response to a decision to adopt AI: the poster's account is the only evidence, the chief executive's stated theme on the call was budget cuts, no AI output or action toward the poster is described as causing the termination, and no employer statement was retrieved.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The poster says they, a server and network administrator, and the company's lead developer were terminated on the day of the post, after their access was revoked and the chief executive called them, and that both were replaced with an Anthropic subscription.
Causal attribution. The poster's account; no employer statement was retrieved.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Just got terminated today. Both myself(server admin and network administrator) and the lead developer.'; 'Then followed up with a call from the CEO.'; 'We were both replaced with the Anthropic subscription'
Reported Asked whether they were replaced with AI or with offshore developers using AI, the poster says it was an Anthropic subscription of 180 dollars a month that the chief executive mentioned, and that staff had seen him use it to scan the infrastructure days earlier; the poster says the theme of the termination call was major budget cuts.
Causal attribution. The poster attributes the mention of the subscription to the chief executive; the stated theme of the call was budget cuts, and no source records the employer's own explanation.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Its AI. Anthropic subsc. Of 180 $/ month . Ceo mentioned that. We saw he was using it to scan the infrastructure days before this.'; 'we are doing major budget cuts. - was the theme.'
Reported The poster says it hurts to part ways and that they feel their years of loyalty were thrown away for a corner-cutting tool.
Causal attribution. Poster's account of their own reaction.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'but still it sort of hurts to part ways'; 'Im still processing the loyalty of the 7 years. Thrown away, cause there is a corner cutting tool'
Reported The poster says the company is small, located in Australia, and that they worked for it remotely.
Causal attribution. Poster's description; it does not establish where the termination decision was made or where the poster lives.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'The company is located in Australia. I was doing remote job for them for the last 7 years.'; 'But def a small company'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- r/jobs, 24 October 2026: "We were replaced with AI"(opens in new tab)
s1 · reddit.com · Forum post · English · Inspected · 24 October 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in English on 2026-10-25: the post through the arctic_shift archive API (200) and the live thread (194 entries, 21 by the poster, latest poster reply at 21:21 UTC on 24 October 2026) through Reddit's comment RSS feed at about 03:02 UTC on 25 October. The live post carries an 'Edit : typos' note and differs from the archived copy only in spelling; the live text is quoted. The poster's handle is not recorded. Applies to s1.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The poster says in a reply that the company is located in Australia and that they worked for it remotely; where the poster lives and where the decision was made are not stated, so no event country is recorded.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-25: Published under the public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of two terminations that the poster says followed the chief executive's adoption of an Anthropic AI subscription, reviewed as a consequential institutional response to a decision to adopt AI. Described with attribution and without corroboration, including the budget-cuts theme of the call; the company is not identified and the poster's handle is not recorded.
People described
The poster, a server and network administrator, and the company's lead developer, both terminated by their own employer by the poster's account
People reported harmed in this case
2 people
0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed
Two people: the poster and the lead developer, both of whom the poster says were terminated and replaced. Finance staff with calls scheduled for the following Monday are not counted, because no consequence for them is reported. Neither person is counted as a direct AI user: the harm is the employer's decision.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Systems administrator says a small firm terminated them and its lead developer, replacing both with an Anthropic AI subscription (first-person account). AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-systems-administrator-says-small-firm-terminated-them-and-lead-developer-replacing-both-with-anthropic-ai-subscription-first-person
BibTeX
@misc{2026_systems_administrator_says_small_firm_terminated_them_and_lead_developer_replacing_both_with_anthropic_ai_subscription_first_person,
title = {Systems administrator says a small firm terminated them and its lead developer, replacing both with an Anthropic AI subscription (first-person account)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-systems-administrator-says-small-firm-terminated-them-and-lead-developer-replacing-both-with-anthropic-ai-subscription-first-person}
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