Big Tech leaders once pointed to the economy when cutting jobs . Now they point to AI. Recent layoff memos — including those from Block and Atlassian — read less like apologetic explanations of economic headwinds or cost-cutting initiatives, and more like strategic manifestos for the AI era. Block's Jack Dorsey and Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes both frankly highlight profound shifts in how they see technology reshaping work and, therefore, how many workers they'll need in the years to come.