{"id":123100,"date":"2026-03-31T06:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/?p=123100"},"modified":"2026-06-21T05:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T05:25:03","slug":"job-redundancies-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/job-redundancies-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech CEOs Are Blaming Redundancies On AI – But I’m Not Buying It"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 6<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

After years of dire warnings, have the robots finally come for our jobs? Four companies with a strong presence in Australia announced layoffs in February and March –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WiseTech Global, Commonwealth Bank, Block (formerly Square), and Atlassian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4,000+ jobs were cut, with the blame laid at the feet of AI-powered efficiencies.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the evidence for a widespread AI jobs takeover is weak right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian labour market is showing resilience (unemployment is at a low 4.1%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US jobs market is softer but still steady, with the jobless rate at 4.4% and slow job growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Related: Your Career Just Got An Expiry Date<\/a>).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased automation is obviously having an impact – and will likely keep having an impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s a gaping divide between what generative AI (GenAI) models are potentially capable of, and how they\u2019re actually being used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most employers are still working out where AI fits, whether it can be trusted, and the extent to which the tools can (or should) replace roles, or enhance current workflows.<\/em><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Why AI Is Becoming The Perfect Excuse For Layoffs.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The people selling, or investing in, AI tools have been among the loudest voices shouting that human workers will soon be obsolete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, made news at the start of the year when he claimed<\/a> that most professional tasks \u201cwill be fully automated by AI within the next 12 to 18 months.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is putting his money where his mouth is. <\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Alongside its US$13B investment into OpenAI, Microsoft sacked over 15,000 employees in 2025 – citing AI-driven efficiencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atlassian, meanwhile, has reasons to be nervous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company is at risk from AI-native competitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been building its own GenAI solutions – and spent almost $1 billion last year to acquire an AI web browser that will be integrated into its products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moves haven\u2019t helped its stock price, which has plummeted over 67% in the past year. <\/em><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In March 2026, the company slashed 1,600 jobs, ostensibly because AI had changed \u201cthe mix of skills we need,\u201d and \u201cthe number of roles required\u201d, according to CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Atlassian employee who spoke<\/a> anonymously to the Sydney Morning Herald<\/em> questioned that narrative, saying \u201cI personally think we overhired, and [Cannon-Brookes is] hoping the stock price goes up as a result\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job cuts by payments company Block<\/a> this year that saw 40% of its headcount go were also criticised for so-called \u2018AI-washing\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Is AI-Washing?<\/h3><\/div>

Using AI productivity gains as an excuse to cut jobs – when operational bloat was the root cause.\u00a0The former looks like innovation. The latter? Mismanagement.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

AI expert and Associate Professor at The Wharton School, Ethan Mollick, said<\/a> Block\u2019s job cuts were dubious because AI tools were still so new and \u201cwe have little sense of how to organise work around them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is hard to imagine a firm-wide sudden 50%+ efficiency gain that justifies massive organisational cuts,\u201d Mollick said.<\/em><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs Block\u2019s announcement just a convenient and flashy new cover for typical corporate downsizing?\u201d was the question posed by former Block employee Aaron Zamost in an op-ed for The New York Times.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Related: How To Get More Job Interviews And Job Offers<\/a>).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stanford University Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, who studies workplaces and modern business management, said in response to the op-ed: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLayoffs have little to do with actual financial or maybe even business conditions, and have more to do with signalling and copying what others are doing.\u201d<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

University professors like Pfeffer must be taken with a pinch of salt, as decades in academia are not a substitute for real executive business experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet he is right that improving margins by adopting AI signals that a company is innovative. Going places. Part of the zeitgeist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How Close Is AI To Replacing Jobs?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No bones about it, agentic AI tools are powerful. And they’re rapidly imporving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the fact that AI tool is capable of doing something, isn\u2019t the same as being able to reliably replace a real worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The widely-referenced METR (Model Evaluation & Threat Research) task-completion time horizon graph shows AI agents\u2019 capabilities are advancing exponentially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Such measures show a trend, but have limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n