👉 Background: Telstra was founded back in 1901 and still remains Australia’s largest telco provider, with more than 24 million retail services across Australia. Telstra employs about 31,000 full time workers around the world. But last year, Telstra swung its corporate axe and cut 2,800 jobs to save $350 million dollars as part of its T25 strategy.

👉 What happened: In May this year, Telstra’s CEO announced a new strategy called “Connected Future 30” which aims to raise Telstra’s annual returns from 8% to 10% by 2030 and has a major focus on AI. But now, Telstra has warned that it will need to cut another 500 jobs as part of this strategy.

👉 What else: Telstra has denied that the job losses are related its adoption of AI, but it comes at a time when they are heavily investing in AI capability, which will supposedly 'revolutionise' tasks within the business.

What's the key learning?

💡The theory that AI would one day replace human workers has been floating around for decades... but we’re now seeing some real, tangible examples. This is one of the first examples of a large Aussie company openly adopting AI.. and seeing the impact on their workforce.

💡According to a report from the Social Policy Group, up to one in three Australian workers could be at risk of job loss due to AI by 2030. And, while companies tend to tip-toe around the topic of AI to avoid public backlash, shareholders seem to have a different outlook on AI adoption.

💡As of this week, Telstra’s shares have surged over 21% since the start of this year, and over 30% over the past 12 months, making it 10th best performing company on the ASX. So, we’re now entering the era where AI isn’t just theory, it’s becoming a core part of company strategy.