It was an awkward backdrop for billionaire Atlassian co-founder and current Tech Council of Australia chair Scott Farquhar as he fronted the National Press Club on Wednesday to extol the virtues of artificial intelligence.
This morning, fresh reports surfaced that Atlassian would cut 150 customer support jobs, with the functions largely replaced by AI. Asked about those cuts, Farquhar initially paused, but then didn’t shy away from the reality: no one will be immune from the AI revolution.
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“There will be jobs that change across the industry as a result of this,” he conceded.
“[But] I feel very privileged and blessed that we live in a nation that has a very strong social safety net and very strong skilling opportunities for our people.”