Atlassian follows in Block’s footsteps and cuts staff in the name of AI

Australian software development company Atlassian has suspended operations as the company looks to increase investment in AI.

Atlassian announced that it is lay off 10% of its workforcearound 1,600 people, on March 11. The company said that this decision allows it to spend more money on AI, marketing, and strengthening its capital.

In particular, Atlassian said that it is doing well, but it is choosing to adapt to the market.

“The bar for what ‘big’ looks like in the software industry — in terms of growth, profitability, speed, value creation — has been raised,” Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brooks wrote in a news release about the layoffs.

TechCrunch reached out to Atlassian to learn more about the types of positions that have been cut and what will happen next. Atlassian declined to comment unless issued.

This news comes just a few weeks after similar, albeit more dire, statements were made by Block CEO Jack Dorsey. In February, the payment company announced that it was cutting more than 4,000 employeesabout half of its 10,000 employees at the time.

Dorsey said the cuts were driven by the fact that AI could revolutionize many of the jobs these workers do and predicted many other companies will come to the same conclusion.

Several venture capital VCs predicted to TechCrunch that 2026 will be the year when AI will start to disrupt the workforce.

So far, what he predicted has come true.