More than 1,000 Australian tech jobs have been cut in recent months, with companies citing artificial intelligence as a driver of productivity gains. However, experts warn that AI may be used as a cover for other financial pressures.
Atlassian announced on Thursday it would cut 500 jobs in Australia as part of 1,600 global redundancies. Block, owner of Afterpay, cut 4,000 workers worldwide including 700 Australians, while WiseTech let 2,000 employees go. Telstra also axed 200 jobs in its AI joint venture with Accenture.
Voice actor Teresa Lim, who has worked for 23 years, fears being replaced by AI-generated voices made from a 15-second clip. “It is terrifying not just for voice actors, but for the general Australian public, because currently we have no legislation in place that makes that illegal,” she said.
Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said the company’s approach was not “AI replaces people”, but acknowledged AI changes the mix of skills needed. WiseTech CEO Zubin Appoo declared “the era of manually writing code as a core act of engineering is over”.
Analysts are sceptical. Gartner’s Neal Woolrich said only 1% of job cuts last year were due to AI productivity gains. “I think there’s a lot of use of AI as cover for other things going on in the organisation,” he said. Morningstar’s Lochlan Halloway noted AI adds upfront costs and lacks concrete evidence of benefits.
Despite the cuts, recruitment agency Randstad reports call centres are still steadily hiring humans. The Reserve Bank of Australia found almost one in three businesses use AI for advanced tasks, and the share of Australians who believe their job will disappear due to AI is rising.
