Block Raises Outlook as AI Touches Nearly All Production Code

Block, which operates Cash App and Square, provides consumer finance, merchant payments and lending services. The fintech company cut more than 4,000 jobs in February 2026, shrinking its workforce from over 10,000 to fewer than 6,000 as Chief Executive Jack Dorsey argued that smaller teams equipped with AI could produce more. Its latest results therefore offer a closely watched test of whether agentic AI can translate a dramatic reduction in headcount into durable growth and operating leverage.

Block said on Aug. 5 that second-quarter gross profit rose 25% from a year earlier to about $3.17 billion, exceeding its previous $3.04 billion target, and raised its full-year outlook. The company said agentic AI now helps write or review nearly all production code, while production-code changes per engineer have climbed to almost three times their January level. Human employees retain the final decision on deploying changes, but the figures mark a sharp expansion from the automation levels disclosed earlier in 2026.