WiseTech to lay off a third of its global workforce in two-year AI pivot

WiseTech to lay off a third of its global workforce in two-year AI pivot

WiseTech CEO Zubin Appoo said that some projects that once took six or seven months can now be completed in a day’s time

Australian software company WiseTech Global will cut about 2,000 jobs, nearly a third of its global workforce, in a two year restructuring that could rank among the country's largest artificial intelligence-linked job cuts.

WiseTech, which makes shipping and logistics management software, said it plans to integrate AI into its customer software as well as internal operations, affecting around 29% of its global workforce of around 7,000 people across 40 countries.

The layoffs highlight how AI is reshaping workplaces globally, as companies adopt automation tools for routine administrative work as well as complex coding tasks that the systems are handling with increasing speed and precision.

WiseTech CEO Zubin Appoo said that some projects that once took six or seven months can now be completed in a day’s time. Rolling out global customs capability in a new country, which previously took as long as two years, can be done six or seven times faster thanks to AI, he added. Appoo said that WiseTech workers who dealt with customers directly or chased sales would still require plenty of person-to-person contact.

Last month, Amazon announced 16,000 job cuts worldwide in a second round of redundancies at the tech giant in three months, adding to a wave of redundancies by U.S. companies across sectors this year.

"The era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over," Appoo said.