The software maker cut thousands of jobs in the name of AI. Now it is handing the engineers who remain capped ‘AI wallets,’ a sign the industry’s token spending has become a line item to manage.
Atlassian has started giving its engineers a fixed monthly allowance for artificial intelligence, a capped “AI wallet” that warns them as they near the limit and stops when the budget runs out.
The move places the software company on the cost-conscious side of a growing divide over how much AI staff should be allowed to burn through.
The caps are not trivial, but they are caps. Atlassian’s wallets run from $500 to $2,000 a month for research-and-development staff, with the size set by role and the option to ask for more, a structure meant to keep spending visible rather than to starve it.
The company frames it as generosity with guardrails. “Atlassian provides a significant budget for our builders to leverage multiple AI tools,” a spokesperson said, casting the wallet as a way to fund experimentation without letting the bills run wild.The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
