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“It would be misleading to deny that AI is transforming the skill sets we need and the number of positions required in specific sectors. It truly does,” remarked founder Mike Cannon-Brookes earlier this week.
Although not every company has pointed directly to AI as the reason for their decisions, a number have expressed similar sentiments.
WiseTech’s chief executive, Zubin Appoo, stated, “I am willing to declare this unequivocally: the age of manually writing code as the primary task of engineering has concluded.”
He elaborated, “AI enhances the productivity of our expertise in logistics and trade, leverages the extensive datasets that WiseTech possesses, and strengthens the network advantage we have developed over three decades.”
These remarks indicate a significant structural transformation occurring within the global workforce, a notion that some specialists are beginning to acknowledge.
Its latest Future of Jobs report found 92 million jobs may be eliminated and 170 million new ones created by 2030 due to AI and other technological advancements.
“These trends are expected to have a divergent effect on jobs, driving both the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles, and fueling demand for technology-related skills, including AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity and technological literacy, which are anticipated to be the top three fastest- growing skills,” the report said.
As tech companies rapidly move to adopt the new technology, UNSW AI Institute director Sue Keay said they are struggling to compete with their native AI rivals.
She added that the layoffs are more nuanced than just simply AI replacing their roles.
“For software companies, they have to be able to demonstrate how they can compete with new AI companies who may be able to do similar work, but with fewer people, and that’s putting a lot of pressure on their existing business models,” she said. 
“So until those companies can demonstrate how they can create new value from artificial intelligence, it’s going to be very challenging, and we’ll probably see more job losses.”
The tech sector routinely adopts new technology, according to USYD digital innovation and ethics senior lecturer Raffaele Ciriello.
He said people are being laid off because companies have overestimated the power of AI. 
“The tech sector always operates on promises to the future. Always. This has been the case for the last 20 years,” he said.
“There’s this promise that this new shiny technology is going to be the next big thing, and it’s going to change everything. These days, it’s AI; earlier, it used to be blockchain.
“What that means is that the tech sector needs to operate on venture capital and on expected profits, which may or may not materialise.
“And in this case, AI is not delivering on the expectations. That has been enormously inflated.”
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