Block, Amazon, Synopsys and Cloudflare are rethinking how work gets done with AI

Block, Amazon, Synopsys, and Cloudflare are reconsidering the ways work is executed with AI. Amrita Ahuja, Block's CFO and COO, discussed at a panel at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit that the fintech company is fundamentally refactoring its operations. Over the past few years, Block has been streamlining its processes and utilizing AI since early 2024.

The company recently slashed its workforce by 40% and eliminated managerial layers. Ahuja emphasized the importance of human presence in every function, as builders, goal-setters, and strategy deciders. Engineers at Block have seen a 150% improvement in code review changes since the start of the year, and non-engineers have experienced a 60% improvement.

Approximately 15% of code changes are now almost fully automated with a final human decision only. Measuring AI's return on investment is still being developed, but Block is working on a metric called "timed customer value" to trace the impact of code changes to customer interactions and value.

Synopsys, a company developing software for semiconductor design and verification, CFO Shelagh Glaser noted that AI spending was reasonable until it reached a tipping point. The company has had to decide which employees get premium AI tiers and which use internal models. Synopsys built its own metering system since some providers didn't offer one.

The objective is to invest intentionally in AI, measuring returns in customer outcomes rather than just product releases. Cloudflare, a web infrastructure and cybersecurity services provider, co-founder and president Michelle Zatlyn said the company now hires "both employees and agents" and wants all its roughly 5,000 employees to be builders across the business.

One notable example is a finance director who extensively used agents and was tapped to lead AI transformation for the finance team. Cloudflare also committed to hiring over 1,000 interns in 2026, aiding teams in becoming more AI-native. "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," Zorn said.

Amazon's VP of customer experience, products, and services, Heather Zorn, highlighted the importance of measuring AI returns through employee adoption, engagement, and efficiency, which include time saved. She emphasized that leaders must determine how long they are willing to invest before witnessing both wins. Ahuja expects more companies to integrate AI agents into their organizational charts, with workers responsible for both training and deploying these agents.

She believes that in the future, company charts will include not only units but also AI agents, which, like humans, require development over time.