# How Block, Amazon and others are rebuilding work around AI

> Four major companies explain how they are restructuring operations, measuring returns and preparing workforces for an AI-native future.
- Title: How Block, Amazon and others are rebuilding work around AI
- Summary: Four major companies explain how they are restructuring operations, measuring returns and preparing workforces for an AI-native future. Block, Amazon…
- Keywords: block, amazon, synopsys, cloudflare, artificial intelligence, workforce restructuring, ai adoption, operational efficiency, code automation, finance teams, others, rebuilding
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/10/15/block-amazon-synopsys-cloudflare-rethinking-how-work-gets-done-with-ai
- Author: Sheryl Estrada
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: block, amazon, synopsys, cloudflare, artificial intelligence, workforce restructuring, ai adoption, operational efficiency, code automation, finance teams
## Block rethinks operations from the ground up
Block's CFO and COO Amrita Ahuja said the company did not want to sprinkle AI on top of existing work.

> We thought about fundamentally refactoring how we operate as a company
## Block cuts workforce and removes layers
Earlier this year, Block, the parent company of Square and Cash App, cut its workforce by forty percent and removed layers of management to align with its AI-first approach.
## Humans stay central to Block's model
Ahuja said Block fundamentally believes you absolutely need the human at the center.Every function still needs people who are builders, goal-setters and strategy deciders, but not people whose job is passing information or checking work.

> We fundamentally believe that in a world of AI, you absolutely need the human at the center
## Block's engineers see dramatic productivity gains
Engineers at Block improved their code review changes by one hundred fifty percent between the start of the year and midyear.
## Block develops new metric for AI value
Block is working to refine a metric called timed customer value, which traces a code change to a feature, then to a customer interaction, and finally to value.
## Synopsys faces real AI spending costs
Synopsys CFO Shelagh Glaser said AI spending was pretty reasonable until it wasn't.The semiconductor software company had to decide who gets premium AI tiers and who uses internal models, and built its own metering system.

> AI spending was pretty reasonable until it wasn't
## Cloudflare hires both employees and AI agents
Cloudflare co-founder and President Michelle Zatlyn said the company now hires both employees and agents and wants all of its roughly five thousand people to be builders.
## Amazon measures AI adoption in stages
Amazon's VP of customer experience, products and services Heather Zorn said the company measures returns on AI investment through adoption first, then engagement, then efficiency through outcomes like time saved.
## Leaders must give teams time to learn AI
Zorn said the important thing as a leader right now is to make sure you are giving time and space and permission for your teams to learn.

> The important thing as a leader right now is to make sure that you're giving time and space and permission for your teams to learn
## AI agents will appear on organizational charts
Ahuja said she expects more companies to integrate AI agents into their organizational charts, with workers responsible for training and deploying these agents.Those agents need to be developed over time, not too dissimilar to humans.

> Those agents, not too dissimilar to humans, need to be developed over time
## Finance teams adopt AI faster than they trust it
OneStream's Forward Finance Index surveyed one thousand three hundred CFOs and found nearly three-quarters say AI is cutting manual work in close, reporting and reconciliation.
## Key takeaway

Block, Amazon, Synopsys and Cloudflare are fundamentally redesigning how they operate rather than adding AI to existing processes, focusing on keeping humans in strategic roles while automating routine work.