CBA calls back humans, U-turns on AI firings
Australia’s biggest bank has backflipped on its decision to axe jobs and replace them with a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence.
Australia’s biggest bank has backflipped on its decision to axe dozens of jobs replaced by an AI chatbot, admitting it made an “error”.
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) last month announced it would cut 45 call centre jobs after rolling out an artificial intelligence voicebot to answer customer inquiries.
The bank has now reversed the decision, offering impacted staff the option to stay in their roles or accept a voluntary exit payment.
CBA chief executive Matt Comyn said the bank was engaging with impacted staff.
“I think it’s important to set a good precedent,” he saidafter the government’s Economic Reform Roundtable on Wednesday.
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The Australian Finance Sector Union called the news a “massive win” but said the “damage is already done for the 45 workers who endured weeks of unnecessary stress, not knowing if they would be able to pay bills or support their families”.
“This is a massive win for workers, proving what can be achieved when members stand together — but let’s be clear, this is no victory lap,” Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said in a statement.
“CBA has been caught out trying to dress up job cuts as innovation. Using AI as a cover for slashing secure jobs is a cynical cost-cutting exercise, and workers know it.”
“CBA likes to talk about being a digital leader, but real leadership means investing in your people, not tossing them aside and blaming the technology.”
The bank admitted calls had increased after the rollout of the voicebot, with team leaders having to be pulled onto the phones, the AFR reported.
The bank said it has apologised to impacted workers, admitting it had made an “error” over staff workloads.
“CBA’s initial assessment that the 45 roles were not required did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations and this error meant the roles were not redundant,” a CBA spokesman said in a statement provided to news.com.au.
“We have apologised to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required.”
The bank added it was reviewing its internal processes “to improve our approach going forward”.
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At the time of the jobs cut announcement last month, a CBA spokesman told NewsWire the bank has hired more than 9,000 people in the 2025 financial year and were currently investing more than $2 billion in their operations.
“To meet the changing needs of our customers, like many organisations, we review the skills we need and how we’re organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes,” the spokesman said.
“Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres. By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience.
“We currently have around 450 open roles across retail banking services, more than 220 on the frontline.”
It came after CBA cut 164 jobs from its technology division in March.
According to the World Economic Forum, Artificial Intelligence is expected to create roughly 69 million jobs in the next five years, but around 83 million will be eradicated.
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Originally published as CBA calls back humans, U-turns on AI firings
