Atlassian CEO says AI will reshape enterprise software, not erase it
Mike Cannon-Brookes argues that AI will increase the value of connected platforms and usable interfaces as enterprise work changes.
Atlassian chief executive and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has pushed back against the view that artificial intelligence will make enterprise software platforms obsolete, arguing that AI will change how businesses use tools such as Jira, Trello and Confluence.
In an interview with The Verge, Cannon-Brookes said AI could speed up workflows and improve their consistency, while leaving businesses with more work to coordinate and a continuing need for human judgement. He said complex organisations must still manage compliance, rules and teams across different markets.
His argument addresses the “SaaSpocalypse” thesis that AI could weaken software subscriptions by accessing company data directly or building replacement tools. Cannon-Brookes said Atlassian’s MCP server and command-line tools help customers work across applications. He claimed customers using them grow seats at least 5 per cent faster and expand annual recurring revenue at twice the rate of other customers. The figures were not independently verified in the interview.
Cannon-Brookes also said more than 98 per cent of people using Atlassian’s MCP server also use its interface. He argued that chatbots would not be the final interface for work, pointing to the need to coordinate people, software and AI agents through tools designed for specific tasks.
The CEO said Atlassian had about 12,000 to 13,000 employees and had combined internal IT and engineering with its people function to coordinate changes to systems and workforce skills. He said the company laid off about 10 per cent of staff in March, citing a need to change its skills mix, while AI products and enterprise sales were areas for further investment.
Cannon-Brookes described AI as a technology that could broaden what teams produce and said role boundaries may blur as employees take on more tasks. He said Atlassian’s browser for knowledge workers, Dia, is part of its effort to make work across applications easier to manage.
