The Australian tech giant is taking a break from work and dedicating an entire week to AI

Design software giant Canva has suspended normal operations across its 5,300-person global workforce for five days of nothing but AI learning and hackathons, bucking the global wave of tech giants that have cut jobs citing the technology.

The program, called “AI Discovery Week,” includes more than 60 talks and workshop sessions, flown-in speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, and a pizza party that, according to a Canva executive, destroyed 50 meters of pizza in 27 minutes.

The move comes after WiseTech Global, Block and Atlassian all reduced their headcounts in the past six months, with executives in some cases pointing to artificial intelligence as the reason for the productivity gains that enabled the cuts.

Canva’s stop-work program is optional and not mandatory, but has left its Sydney office so full this week that employees are struggling to find a desk.