How Companies Are Restructuring Their Workforce for Artificial Intelligence
Executives from Block, Synopsys, and Cloudflare told Fortune how AI agents are transforming job structures and employee requirements
Earlier this year, Jack Dorsey, the head of the American technology company Block, laid off 40% of employees. The decision was part of a structural overhaul tied to the active implementation of artificial intelligence to automate workflows. Investments in AI technologies this year will exceed $730 billion, and companies are forced to adapt their teams accordingly.
Block’s Chief Financial Officer, Amrita Ahuja, predicts that the changes will affect both layoffs and how employees interact with AI. At the Fortune summit in Santa Barbara, she stated that organizational charts will soon include not only departments but also AI agents. Employees will need to train these systems, adjust their goals, and integrate them into workflows.
"These agents, like people, require development. They need more context, information, and understanding of their tasks," Amrita explained.
Shelagh Glaser, Chief Financial Officer of Synopsys (an American company specializing in high-precision electronics design), compared AI expenses to corporate snacks: some teams need premium tools, while others rely on in-house models. "The cost of AI was manageable until it became burdensome," she noted. Companies must now carefully plan their investments to justify expenditures.
Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of Cloudflare (an American company providing server services), shared that AI uncovers hidden talent within companies. Employees with access to new tools become "builders" and propose unexpected use cases for the technology.
At Amazon, AI effectiveness is measured by three criteria: adoption level, employee engagement, and time savings. However, the key metric, according to the company’s Vice President Heather Zorn, is revenue growth. "That’s the only KPI we need," she stated.