20 Year Old Unicorn Goes AI-First Without Mass AI Layoffs - ShiftMag

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10.06.2026.

Artificial Intelligence

Developer Experience

20 Year Old Unicorn Goes AI-First Without Mass AI Layoffs

Anastasija Uspenski

Photo credit: Neven Kacun

A CTO with 20 years of experience through multiple tech shifts sees layoffs not as an AI effect, but as a correction after an unsustainable hiring boom. He sees AI as a reset: an opportunity for strong junior engineers, and a wake-up call for senior developers facing an existential shift in how they stay relevant.

Whether you are a skeptical senior AI engineer, a cautious junior, or an enthusiast who has been fully engaged in AI since the moment you discovered it, the interview I prepared will stay with you.

This May, I spoke with a CTO who truly understands the spirit of the moment and brings a grounded, realistic view of the current wave of AI expansion. He applies that perspective across a team of roughly 1,000 developers.

That is Izabel Jelenić, CTO of Infobip, first Croatian unicorn. As a co-founder, he has been there since the very beginning, when two university friends started a small startup that later grew into a billion-dollar global organization. Over the past 20 years, this veteran tech leader has navigated every major technological shift while helping scale the company worldwide.

The conversation comes at a moment when we are in the middle of the agentic AI era, where AI systems move beyond answering questions and begin executing tasks, supporting and automating real workflows. At Infobip, this shift has been embraced early and deliberately through an AI-first transformation that extends across the entire organization, engaging not only developers but employees in every function .

Developers should adopt AI gradually

I asked Izabel to explain what AI-first means and how the idea of shifting to an AI-first mindset emerged.

What followed was a comprehensive breakdown of its evolution, core principles, and practical execution. With over two decades in the tech industry, my interlocutor emphasizes that he has never witnessed a technological shift this monumental, signaling clear proof that AI is rapidly moving from mere hype into everyday utility.

That makes mastering these capabilities and maximizing their potential absolutely crucial. A common pitfall, however, is assuming AI belongs solely to developers, which completely misses the mark given the technology’s universal transformative power:

That is why Infobip promotes a mindset in which all technical and non-technical employees embrace curiosity toward AI so they can be part of the new business and technological order instead of letting it overtake them. That is the AI-first shift the company has chosen as its business philosophy for the future.

While technical teams naturally adopt new tools faster and more efficiently, he believes those outside software engineering shouldn’t be left behind. Providing non-technical employees with the right resources and training allows them to leverage AI agents as personal assistants, ultimately making their daily work both easier and faster.

When it comes to software developers, the Infobip CTO sees two extremes:

Some cling tightly to writing code and represent the anti-AI camp.

Others rely fully on AI and embrace vibe coding.

In his view, neither approach is correct .

Because technological development has not yet reached the "dark factory" stage (where systems run entirely automated and unassisted), rushing into a full AI concept remains premature. Instead, this direction serves as a north star—a long-term guide rather than an immediate reality. While it remains uncertain if a fully autonomous state is entirely achievable, forcing such an approach today is clearly unwise.

Developers should adopt AI gradually . They should understand which tools suit them best, such as coding, review, and testing.

Photo credit: Neven Kacun

If you are a bad developer, AI can’t help you

From the CTO’s perspective, Infobip developers have adopted an AI-first mindset naturally and with little friction, though overdoing it remains a risk. There is a critical need to retain ownership and maintain a strong architecture, especially since AI often acts as an amplifier, scaling both good practices and underlying flaws:

If you are a bad developer, AI will not help you write good code. If you are a good developer, AI can help you a lot in terms of speed. But you have to know how to guide it and recognize its mistakes, because it can be very convincing.

He explains that an AI-first mindset changes how organizations operate. AI speeds up processes by automating everything that can be automated . People can master this technology by adopting engineering logic, and they gain a strong advantage for the future.

By ignoring AI, a person pushes themselves out of the industry. Izabel finds it surprising that some smaller companies do not adopt AI faster....