given the reactions I have seen over the last year, I suspect there is more going on here.
senior folks got there by nominally their own efforts and time, also nepitism. have seen a lot of that in recent years at various employers.
lots of devs to not want to people much.
many do not want to have to deal with other devs, mainly juniors.
using AI to replace those other people means less people.
I see this as an extension of the 10X, must be a rock star nonsense from management.