Australian productivity software company Atlassian has announced layoffs as it shifts more investment toward artificial intelligence.

 

On March 11, the company said it would cut about 10% of its workforce—roughly 1,600 employees. Atlassian said the move will allow it to allocate more resources to AI development, expand its enterprise sales efforts, and strengthen its financial position.

 

The company emphasized that the decision was not driven by poor performance but by a need to adapt to changing market conditions.

 

“The bar for what ‘great’ looks like for software companies — on growth, profitability, speed, and value creation — has gone up,” Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said in a statement about the layoffs.

 

Atlassian did not provide additional details about which roles were affected or what restructuring steps would follow.

 

The announcement comes shortly after a similar move by payments company Block. In February, Block said it would cut more than 4,000 jobs—nearly half of its workforce of around 10,000 employees at the time.

 

Block CEO Jack Dorsey said the layoffs were partly driven by the growing ability of AI to automate many tasks previously handled by employees. He also suggested that more companies could follow the same path.

 

Several enterprise-focused venture capitalists have predicted that 2026 could be the year when AI begins to have a significant impact on the labor market.

 

So far, those predictions appear to be materializing.