Coinbase CEO Fires Engineers for Refusing to Use AI, Explains the Reason Behind It

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has revealed that he fired several engineers because they refused to use or even try out artificial intelligence amidst the company's transition towards using it.

As one of the top cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world, Coinbase is looking to upgrade its systems and operations using the latest in technology with the new tools in the industry.

However, the industry is still on its way to adopt AI in its operations, and there are several people, and in Coinbase's case, some of its engineers, who are refusing the integration of the tech.

Coinbase CEO Fired Engineers Refusing to Use AI

In the latest episode of John Collison's "Cheeky Pint" podcast released this week, Armstrong discussed recent firings at Coinbase. He explained that, over the course of the company's ongoing AI transition, some employees repeatedly refused to adopt the AI tools Coinbase had invested in, which ultimately led to their dismissal.

Armstrong explained that Coinbase had previously invested heavily in AI adoption, securing licenses for every engineer. Despite these preparations, he was told during this phase of transition that adoption would take time.

Unspecified people also informed him that it would take several months to onboard half the engineers to use AI within the company. Armstrong said he was shocked and explained that he went "rogue."

He went on to make an announcement in the company's Slack main engineering channel claiming that "AI is important," and that he wants employees to learn it and onboard with the use of the tech.

At this point, Armstrong was still giving chances to people who still refuse to adopt AI within the company as he said that he hosted a meeting for engineers who are reluctant to do so.

TechCrunch revealed that based on Armstrong's accounts in the interview, only a handful of engineers were fired.

Armstrong Explains Why He Fired Engineers

During the meeting, there were people who had reportedly reasonable reasons behind not yet onboarding with AI and setting up their accounts as some had only returned from their vacations.

However, Armstrong revealed that there were engineers who had unreasonable explanations as to why they refuse the adoption of AI into their workflow. Because of this, the CEO claimed that they were fired.

Armstrong revealed that his approach was "heavy-handed" and there were people within Coinbase who did not approve of it.

Coinbase remains as one of the top and largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world, with the company recently integrating Apple Pay within its on-ramp systems to make it easier to purchase Bitcoin and other crypto.

Earlier this year, Coinbase received a significant perk with President Donald Trump's affinity towards the blockchain industry, as the Securities and Exchange Commission of the industry dropped the ongoing lawsuit against them.

Coinbase has not shared any comments regarding what happened, and it was not revealed by Armstrong what kind of AI integration they introduced to engineers.