High confidence
Feb 25, 2026
WiseTech Global
− 2,000 About 2,000 roles over 18 months, roughly 29% of a 7,000-person workforce across 40 countries
Attribution · verbatim quote
“I am prepared to say this clearly: the era of manually writing code as a core act of engineering is over.”
— Zubin Appoo (ceo)
Summary
WiseTech Global announced about 2,000 redundancies over 18 months as part of an AI-led restructuring. CEO Zubin Appoo described a deliberate AI transformation and predicted a leaner organization, including changes to software development, but the 2,000 roles also span other teams and are not all verified as directly replaced by AI.
Evidence notes
- · ABC reported the layoff plan from WiseTech's results briefing and ASX statement, including CEO quotes about a deliberate AI transformation journey and an AI-led leaner organization. The coding quote speaks to one kind of work, not to direct replacement of all 2,000 roles across customer service and product teams.
- · Guardian and AFR follow-up reporting in May described the redundancy process beginning and noted China-specific communications that omitted AI wording.
- · The May PR candidate described implementation of the February-announced workforce action, so the canonical event date is the February announcement.
Sources
WiseTech Global to cut 2,000 jobs as AI ends era of 'manually writing code'
ABC News Australia · News · 2026-02-25 · abc.net.au
WiseTech begins redundancies – but omits 'AI' from emails to Chinese employees, workers say The Guardian · News · 2026-05-22 · theguardian.com
Battle over WiseTech AI job cuts intensifies amid China staff accusations The Australian Financial Review · News · 2026-05-21 · afr.com