(Bloomberg) — WiseTech Global Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Zubin Appoo said artificial intelligence-fueled savings will ultimately cut through the entire company, hours after the freight-software provider announced plans to ax almost 30% of staff within two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will look at all functions of the business,\u201d Appoo said in an interview Wednesday. \u201cI have a strong view that AI and large language models will drive productivity across all of those functions. I can\u2019t tell you whether that\u2019s 50% or 70% or 30%.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Some projects that once took six or seven months can already be completed in a day, Appoo said. 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 said.<\/p>\n
Appoo\u2019s plans to eliminate 2,000 roles \u2014 from a total workforce of around 7,000 \u2014 under the AI-driven revamp represent the largest cuts of their kind in Australia. While tech titans including Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to embrace AI, few are slashing as early, or as deep, as Sydney-based WiseTech.<\/p>\n
In a candid and full-blooded embrace of AI, Appoo laid out what he said were unprecedented benefits for WiseTech. \u201cThis marks one of the most important inflection points in our 30-plus year history,\u201d he said earlier on a post-earnings call.<\/p>\n
AI means greater productivity, in less time, from fewer people, he said. The company\u2019s cost base will be stripped bare and the economics of software development reshaped. In some parts of the workforce such as customer service, one in two workers will disappear, Appoo added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am prepared to say this clearly: the era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over,\u201d Appoo said. AI is \u201cunlocking levels of efficiency gains across WiseTech that were previously out of reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
WiseTech shares jumped as much as 11% in Sydney trading on Wednesday. Before today\u2019s rebound, the stock had slumped 37% this year, hammered by concerns that artificial intelligence will make the company\u2019s freight-software redundant. <\/p>\n
The mass job cuts come just days after a little known firm called Citrini Research reignited the \u201cAI scare trade\u201d by mapping out a hypothetical future scenario that included large-scale AI-led corporate disruption, mass unemployment, software-backed loan defaults and economic contraction.<\/p>\n
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Appoo said WiseTech workers who deal with customers or chase sales still require plenty of person-to-person contact. But companies the world over are increasingly citing AI as a driver that allows them to eliminate staff and reduce hiring. Software developers could be among those most impacted, with advanced AI capable of handling tasks such as coding that have been traditionally performed by people.<\/p>\n
In the UK, companies reported that AI led to 8% net job losses over the past year, a Morgan Stanley study showed last month. It was the highest level in a group that included German, American, Japanese and Australian firms.<\/p>\n
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During WiseTech\u2019s conference call, Appoo said AI would allow WiseTech to offer more value, and to embed its products deeper into customers\u2019 operations. The job cuts will be made this fiscal year and next.<\/p>\n
His presentation, also released Wednesday, depicted a future in which people with specialist skills and knowledge are still key, but with swarms of AI agents overseen by humans.<\/p>\n
WiseTech creates software that helps companies from shippers to logistics firms plan and manage the flow of goods around the world, from tracking containers to dealing with customs.<\/p>\n
Appoo did concede that AI threatens other software businesses that charge by the number of users, but that the risk didn\u2019t apply to WiseTech. The company\u2019s software is at the center of global trade and logistics and can\u2019t itself be replaced, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an overlay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under what WiseTech calls a \u201cdeep AI transformation,\u201d workers in product and development, and customer service, will be the first to go, including at US-based E2open, which WiseTech bought last year in its biggest-ever acquisition.<\/p>\n
Underlying net profit climbed 2% to A$114.5 million ($81 million) in the six months ended Dec. 31. Total revenue was up 76% to A$672 million, including a five-month contribution from E2open. On an organic basis, sales grew 7%.<\/p>\n
Before AI-related fears smashed WiseTech stock, the company had also endured a tumultuous period of allegations, first raised in late 2024, about the conduct of then-CEO and founder Richard White.<\/p>\n
Appoo was named CEO in July last year partly to address investors\u2019 governance concerns. White is now WiseTech\u2019s chairman.<\/p>\n
–With assistance from Ville Heiskanen.<\/p>\n
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