Brutal video tells workers they have been replaced with AI
Atlassian has announced it is axing 150 jobs in a brutal prerecorded video from billionaire chief executive and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Mr Cannon-Brookes sent the video around to impacted staff on Wednesday morning about their roles, with the majority of these jobs set to be replaced by AI.
In a video titled 'Restructuring the CSS Team: A Difficult Decision for Our Future', Mr Cannon-Brookes didn't officially announce who was leaving, but instead made staff wait 15 minutes to receive an email about their future employment.
Impacted staff members had their laptops immediately blocked.
Staff that have lost their jobs are expected to receive six-months pay.
While one of Atlassian co-founders was axing roles, the other appeared on ABC Breakfast spruiking the benefits of AI, encouraging corporates and the government to embrace it as quickly as possible.
Scott Farquhar said: 'AI is going to change Australia.
'Firstly, most people don't think about where their water or power comes from and people don't think about where AI comes from or where the AI they use on their phone comes from every day,' he told the ABC.
'There is a huge boom in creating data centres for the region and, beyond that, there is a huge boom in using AI for everyday life.'
Mr Farquhar went on to tell viewers every company should be embracing AI.
'Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can,' he said.
'Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every business person, every business leader, every government leader and every bureaucrat should be using it.'
He also called for governments to more broadly use AI to deliver basic services.
Back in April 2024, Mr Farquhar announced his resignation as joint chief executive before officially stepping down in September 2024.
The Australian says the reason behind the sudden culling of 150 roles was due to a situation in which Atlassian's customer service team became a victim of the business's broader success.
Larger clients had moved to the cloud reducing the volume of complex support tasks required at the Atlassian.
Future issues would be treated in part with AI.
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