Australian technology company Atlassian has announced it will cut 1,600 jobs globally, including 500 in Australia, citing a shift in skill requirements driven by artificial intelligence. The redundancies are part of a broader trend that has seen more than 1,000 local tech jobs lost in recent months, with firms like Block and WiseTech also reducing their workforces.
Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said in a letter to staff that while AI does not directly replace people, it changes the mix of skills needed and the number of roles required in certain areas. Block, owner of Afterpay, cut 4,000 workers worldwide, including around 700 Australians, while WiseTech let 2,000 employees go. WiseTech's CEO Zubin Appoo explicitly linked the cuts to AI, stating that manually writing code as a core engineering act is over.
However, experts question whether AI is the true driver of these job losses. Neal Woolrich, a human resources adviser at Gartner, said he is sceptical, noting that only 1% of job cuts in their economic modelling were due to AI productivity gains. He suggested that companies may be using AI as cover for other financial pressures, such as over-hiring or falling share prices. Block's share price had dropped 35% since October, and WiseTech's halved over six months, though both rebounded after announcing cuts.
Voice actor Teresa Lim, who has worked for 23 years, fears being replaced by AI-generated duplicates made from a 15-second clip of her speech. She expressed concern that Australia lacks legislation to protect workers from such displacement. Despite the anxiety, some analysts argue that AI is not yet ready to fully replace human roles. Recruitment agency Randstad noted that call centres are still steadily hiring humans, and Morningstar analyst Lochlan Halloway said that while his firm uses AI for menial data gathering, it has not cut junior headcount.
The Reserve Bank of Australia found that almost one in three Australian businesses use AI for advanced tasks, and the share of workers who believe their job will disappear due to AI is growing. Yet, the exact impact of AI on employment remains debated, with many experts cautioning against attributing all job cuts to the technology.
