Reddit post claims 70-person dev team cut to 8 over ‘Claude Fable’ AI use

A post on the r/developersIndia subreddit claiming a mid-sized services company laid off nearly its entire 70-person developer team, keeping only 8, has gone viral, drawing over 1,100 upvotes and more than 200 comments. The anonymous poster said leadership cited efficiency gains from “Claude Fable 5” as the reason for the cuts.

“CXOs basically saying Claude Fable 5 is enough for those of us remaining… to handle the projects the company has left,” the poster wrote, adding that hiring had already stalled since 2025 and that “the number of projects drastically reduced” beforehand.

The claim has drawn heavy skepticism in the comments. One user called it “100% a fake post,” while another argued that “for replacing a team of 70 people, the token cost for Fable is going to be insane.” A commenter identifying as a CTO said “layoffs due to AI” is often “management speak for a good PR excuse for downsizing,” suggesting the real driver was reduced client billing rather than AI capability.

Other commenters pointed to the post’s own admission that project volume had already dropped as the likelier explanation, with one writing: “This has nothing to do with AI.”