In practice, I've heard of companies using AI to "replace" large groups of people, then higher back a few of them with expanded responsibilities and worse pay.

So, they are using it to replace workers, just not in the neat sci-fi sense.

How is it not true? Just look at translators: during the past few years, most of their jobs just disappeared because AI can do their job just slightly worse than humans but costs much less. Some jobs are easier to replace than others but there certainly are examples of jobs that can be replaced by AI