The real means to prevent this is unionizing, which is really the answer to most other techbro-hellscape problems too. Just like Hollywood is putting anti-ai clauses in their contracts, so too will tech workers need to. Unfortunately, given that the end goal is to remove the IT workers entirely, this is still only a delay if companies push ahead, since just like scabs, there will always be people willing to sell their fellow workers down the river for their own enrichment.

But we're not even close to that point; most tech workers think unionizing is a 4-letter word. There's always a private chat room where folks are lamenting the absolute class-ignorance of their coworkers who are all convinced they're going to stumble into unicorn stock options soon, despite multiple rounds of layoffs each year now being standard in tech.

The real question is what has to happen to end this horrible capitalist nightmare in general.