Anthropic manager says AI coding tools left engineers more isolated

Anthropic is trying to preserve teamwork as its engineers use AI agents more heavily in daily coding work. Fiona Fung, an engineering leader for Anthropic’s Claude Code and Cowork teams, said on Lenny’s Podcast that Claude Code made work feel more solitary for some employees because they were spending more time with agents and less time with colleagues.

Fung said Anthropic responded by adding hackathons and pair-programming lunches so employees would keep comparing methods and learning from one another. She said those efforts worked, adding that watching colleagues use Claude Code helped employees pick up new approaches.

An Anthropic spokesperson told Fortune the company is closely watching how its AI tools affect collaboration. The spokesperson said engineers are adapting pair programming for an AI-heavy workplace, where one lesson is seeing how another person uses the same tools and systems differently.

Morale pressure across tech

The comments come as AI changes are adding to wider unease in the technology industry. Fortune, citing Layoffs.fyi, reported that tech companies have cut nearly 120,000 jobs in 2026, close to the total for all of 2025.

Fortune reported that some companies, including Meta, have pointed to AI in explaining job cuts. Meta cut 8,000 workers this year, according to Fortune.

Blind, a workplace discussion platform for verified anonymous users, has hosted complaints from tech workers about low morale after layoffs and geopolitical uncertainty, Fortune reported. Sunguk Moon, Blind’s co-founder and CEO, told The New York Times last month that discussion on the platform had shifted from career planning to broad anxiety about job loss and motivation.

Meta has also faced internal strain, according to Wired. In an internal email reported by Wired, chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth called the company’s communication around a restructuring of its AI division “atrocious.” Wired also reported that members of Meta’s 6,500-person Applied AI team had complained about work they described as menial and isolating. Fortune said Meta declined to comment.

According to Wired, Bosworth wrote that Meta had damaged employees’ trust that their work and expertise would be valued. He also said the company planned steps intended to make work more enjoyable, including more money for travel and social events and improvements to microkitchens.

AI adoption and job anxiety

Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, told Fortune that unrest in tech reflects a long-running industry habit of moving quickly while leaving workers exposed. Pfeffer said companies often say employees are their most important asset but do not act that way.

A Gallup report cited by Bloomberg found a divide among U.S. tech workers based on AI use. Among tech workers who use AI at least monthly, the reported likelihood of being laid off was about 6%; among those who use it less often, the rate was 18%.

Neil Thompson, an assistant professor of innovation and strategy at MIT Sloan School of Management, told Fortune that new tools often change jobs by removing some tasks and creating others. He said that period can be stressful because workers can see old duties under threat before they know what the new work will be.

Anthropic has also examined those tensions internally. In a company report on recursive self-improvement, Fortune reported, one employee said successful automation could make their own contribution feel irrelevant, while other employees said Claude was augmenting their work and leaving people in charge of direction-setting.

Anthropic said Claude shipped more than 800 API error fixes in April, a task the company said would have taken a human four years to complete, according to Fortune. Thompson told Fortune that companies can reduce anxiety by reskilling workers and being clear about how automation may change jobs, including both gains and losses.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.