Autodesk burns the village to feed AI and the Cloud – cuts 7% of workforce

Since this was about Autodesk putting AI in places no one asked, after I wrote the article I pasted the article into an image generator and got this. It’s perfect, for this…

Autodesk wants you to know this is all going according to plan. “Autodesk cuts 7% of workforce to redirect investments to AI, cloud.” – Yahoo news, today.

What Autodesk Said

In January 2026, Autodesk announced it would cut roughly 7 percent of its global workforce, about 1,000 people, as part of what it calls the “final phase” of a restructuring tied to its cloud and AI strategy. Autodesk framed the layoffs as a way to “increase customer satisfaction going forward,” while reallocating resources toward AI, platform, and cloud initiatives.

“We (Autodesk) are taking decisive actions to accelerate our platform strategy and drive greater customer value over the long term.”

Wall Street Loves Enshittification

Investors responded immediately. The stock jumped. Analysts applauded the focus on recurring revenue, subscriptions, and AI-driven growth. Autodesk itself emphasized capital efficiency and shareholder returns. Cory will get word of the year, decade, for Enshittification.

Autodesk reported Q4 revenue of $1.64 billion, up 12% year over year, and announced plans for increased share repurchases as free cash flow grows (also did 1,350 layoffs).

From a distance, it looks like business as usual in rent-seeking software economics. Out here, especially for many of us who use these tools, it looks very different.

The Pitch: Cloud Everything, Subscription Forever

Autodesk’s pitch is the same old story. Move everything to the cloud. Replace perpetual licenses with subscriptions. Centralize workflows. Add AI features. Smooth out revenue. The bait-and-switch is that customers get continuous updates, features, integration. What usually happens is customers get hit with increased costs, less control, and an ongoing sense that the software they rely on can change or disappear at any time.

Autodesk officially ended the sale of perpetual licenses in 2017 and terminated maintenance renewals in 2021, permanently converting customers into subscription-only users.

“Customers who converted their perpetual licenses to subscriptions permanently lost their perpetual rights.”

EAGLE in a Mineshaft

EAGLE was the most popular tool in the electronics and maker communities for at least a decade. Hobbyists, educators, and small companies built entire libraries, workflows, and businesses around it. When Autodesk acquired CadSoft in 2016, it publicly reassured users that the product would remain accessible.

“Absolutely yes. We (Autodesk) have no plans to eliminate the free tier at all.”

Within months, EAGLE was moved to subscription-only licensing. The free tier disappeared. Linux support was dropped. Eventually, EAGLE was bundled into Fusion 360 and stripped of any standalone way forward.

By 2023, Autodesk announced full end-of-life. As of June 7, 2026, EAGLE is gone.

The reasoning, stated in community discussions, was that EAGLE did not reach its “full revenue potential.” A tool can be widely used, deeply loved, and genuinely useful, but if it does not extract enough ongoing value, it is expendable. Users paying roughly $100 per year for EAGLE were told they would need Fusion subscriptions costing several times more to continue their work. Lots of comments from their customers –

“I’ve been using EAGLE for over 20 years… cloud storage is such a deal breaker.”

The Exit: KiCad, FreeCAD, and the Rest

A lot of engineers and businesses left the Autodesk private island, or are leaving.

The migration from EAGLE to KiCad turned into a mass exit. KiCad, an open-source PCB design tool backed by CERN, accelerated development as Autodesk tightened restrictions.

“The current release of KiCad has a comparable feature set to EAGLE.

Engineers who once tolerated subscriptions decided they no longer wanted their designs locked behind accounts, internet connections, and licensing terms that change without warning.

Fusion 360 Users: You Are Watching the Same Movie

It is not just EAGLE. Fusion 360 users are watching the same pattern unfold. Local simulation features were removed and replaced with paid cloud credits that expire.

Cloud tokens cost $3 each, sold in bundles of 500, expiring within one year.

Autodesk has been super-clear that offline workflows are not a priority.

“Fusion may not be the product for you if you want to go completely offline.”

Free and hobbyist tiers have been repeatedly narrowed. Features are removed, partially restored after backlash, then gated again.

Paying customers watch capabilities migrate into metered cloud systems for tasks their own hardware can already perform.

Autodesk Says Making Everything Terrible will Improve “Customer Satisfaction”

Autodesk insists these changes will improve customer satisfaction. Really? How? In 2020, major architecture firms publicly disagreed. Twenty-five firms representing $22 million in annual Autodesk spending signed an open letter documenting price increases exceeding 70 percent with little product improvement.

“Revit increasingly finds itself a constraint and bottleneck.”

Eight additional firms reportedly supported the letter but declined to sign publicly out of fear of retaliation. What? Is Autodesk going to erase your building or something?

A Smart Move Autodesk Refused to Make

By aggressively pushing subscriptions and cloud lock-in (and now AI that does not work for what they are advertising), Autodesk has accelerated a renaissance in open-source and alternative tools. KiCad, FreeCAD, Blender, and others are stronger today because users were forced to look elsewhere.

“Autodesk has increased FreeCAD adoption by more than 30%.”

Every time trust is broken, switching becomes easier the next time that happens, and it will. However, let me put an idea out there for Autodesk. When a product like EAGLE is sunset, open-sourcing it would cost very little and earn enormous goodwill. Send it to us, we’ll do it.

Instead, Autodesk chose to be an advertisement for KiCad.

Maybe It Works Financially, but the Users Are Leaving

Who knows, Autodesk may succeed financially with its cloud-first, AI-driven strategy. Under CEO Andrew Anagnost, the stock has soared, supported by aggressive buybacks. That will work as funny money does, until it doesn’t.

Autodesk has spent over $1 billion per year on share repurchases, with plans to increase that in FY2026.

Software that engineers spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, working and dreaming ideas through is not just a revenue stream. It is infrastructure for creativity, education, and work. When the people who depend on that infrastructure feel ignored or disposable, they eventually adapt and move on.

They are just doing it without Autodesk.

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