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Artificial intelligence has begun eating its own, with struggling tech companies starting to shed staff in a major shift that targets the professional middle class.
Not long ago, these jobs were Australia’s brave new workplace. Governments urged universities to pursue technical courses for job-ready graduates while students who choose to study degrees that emphasised critical evaluation like humanities and social sciences were actively discouraged by massive fee hikes.
But those workers who rode to glory in the height of the tech boom now face the daunting prospect of suddenly becoming surplus to requirements as AI spreads like wildfire and its proliferation erodes profits as investors flee and stock prices plummet.
The dominoes started falling last month when Afterpay’s parent company Block sacrificed more than 4000 jobs. Australian logistics software company WiseTech, Amazon, Pinterest and Crowdstrike joined the bloodletting.
Now Atlassian, the Australian-American software company famed for its commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and which specialises in collaboration tools designed primarily for software development and project management, has dumped 1600 workers by email.
Atlassian should have been the litmus test for how big businesses need to be transparent and honest about the impact of AI. It’s not coming, it’s here.
But chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes telling his employees, “we’re not replacing humans with AI”, while replacing them with AI, does nothing for trust between employee and employer.
Not that many years ago, Australians were told just about every company will be AI-led in some way, from simple manufacturing processes and mining to retail, insurance and health.
Now, as the Herald’s Elizabeth Knight noted, the size of the Atlassian cut is sure to frighten many in the already skittish labour market who subscribe to the doomsday dystopian predictions that AI will replace great swaths of workers.
AI is accelerating without guardrails, its downsides excused as teething problems: for instance, a tendency to burn through energy like a bushfire plays second place to the fascination with the new. Meanwhile, there is little consideration of handling a large workforce made redundant by technology.
But we have been here before. The Australian manufacturing industry and the arrival of computers in the workplace since the 1980s showed how other sectors weathered the arrival of new technology and adjusted.
AI is a tool, not a replacement for human work. There needs to be a better understanding that the creators, operators and users are all on the same conveyor belt. People shouldn’t be afraid to use AI. In a world flushed with intelligent machines, broad intellectual curiosity will be the difference between being left behind or forging ahead.
AI holds the promise of great benefits for productivity and human advancement, especially in science and medicine.
Either way, the genie’s not going back into the bottle. The last big tech revolution – the internet – was resisted before it was embraced and now, for better or worse, we can’t imagine life without it. The best way forward is to proceed – but with some caution and appropriate guard rails.
Jordan Baker sends a newsletter to subscribers each week. Sign up to receive her Note from the Editor.
The Herald’s View – Since the Herald was first published in 1831, the editorial team has believed it important to express a considered view on the issues of the day for readers, always putting the public interest first.From our partners
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