By Toby Walsh
Publication Date: 2026-03-14 02:30:00
Toby Walsh
Ten years ago, when I told people what I was doing—artificial intelligence—they said, “What?” Five years ago they said, “Cool!” Now it’s just, “Scary! Are we full?” And then they kept asking me what their children should learn to be future-proof after the robots arrive.
You have good reason to ask this question. This week Atlassian, one of the darlings of the Australian tech sector, announced it would be laying off 10 per cent of its staff. That’s almost 500 people out of work here in Australia, among the 1,600 jobs Atlassian is cutting globally. This follows another Australian unicorn, WiseTech, announcing the loss of 2,000 employees, or 30 percent of its workforce.
