‘Shocked’ Commonwealth Bank worker trained AI replacement
A woman who worked at Australia’s biggest bank for 25 years has revealed she “inadvertently” trained her own replacement.
A woman who worked at Australia’s biggest bank for 25 years has revealed she “inadvertently” trained her own replacement – an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.
Kathryn Sullivan was made redundant from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) in July alongside 44 others in what were the first job cuts directly attributed to an Australian company’s uptake of AI.
Ms Sullivan told an AI symposium held in Canberra this week that she had no idea her work developing scripts and testing responses for the chatbot Bumblebee would put her out of a job.
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“We knew that messaging would eventually be sent offshore, but never in my wildest dream did I expect to be made redundant after 25 years with the company,” she said.
“Inadvertently, I was training a chatbot that took my job.”
Ms Sullivan, 63, had expected to be redeployed after her role training the bot was finished but instead was told she was no longer required.
She said on Thursday the initial reaction to news she was being made redundant was “shock”.
“While I embrace the use of AI and I can see a purpose for it in the workplace and outside, I believe there needs to be some sort of regulation to prevent copyright (infringements) … or replacing humans.
“You still need the human touch.”
Ms Sullivan urged authorities to “make sure there are adequate regulations to protect people’s jobs, people’s rights”.
She told AAP the decision to let her and her colleagues go left them feeling “like we were nothing, we were a number.”
CBA later reversed its decision to cut 45 jobs from its call centre department after the Financial Sector Union took it to the Fair Work Commission.
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It had initially said using the chatbot reduced calls to the centre by 2000 per week, but then conceded in August that calls had increased after the sackings.
“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 spokesman said.
“We have apologised to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required. We are also reviewing our internal processes to improve our approach going forward.”
Ms Sullivan decided not to take up a role that was offered to her because she found it unsuitable.
She was one of the speakers at an AI symposium held at Parliament House on Wednesday, organised by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
AI has been a major talking point in debate around Australian productivity, and the role it could play in shaping the future of work and the economy.
CBA boss Matt Comyn last month announced a deal with tech giant OpenAI, saying the companies would work together in addressing “scams, fraud, cyber and financial crime”.
ACTU Assistant Secretary Joseph Mitchell said AI could bring benefits to the workforce if staff have a “fair say” in how it is used.
“We want Australia’s digital future to be one where working people have a voice in the uptake of AI and get the skills and training needed to seize the opportunities AI can bring,” he said.
“What we don’t want is Australia following a United States style ‘let it rip’ approach, where the benefits of the new technology and productivity flow through to multinational tech companies, leaving workers without a say or a meaningful stake in the potential gains.”
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Tim Ayres said in a speech to the symposium the government wanted unions at the “top table” in developing AI frameworks.
“My message really is that we’ve got to do this together, we’ve got to do it carefully, we’ve got to do it with precision,” he said.
“You will be doing it, of course, with the interests of workers and workplaces in mind. We will have those issues front and centre.
“But we will both be focused on the national interest.”
Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Productivity, said the story of advanced economies was of too few workers adding “the demand for human expertise will remain strong”.
“The risk of AI is not mass unemployment, but the devaluation of expertise. If every task is treated as generic, then no job is valued, and inequality soars,” he said.
“But if AI is harnessed to extend expertise, to allow more workers to exercise judgment, solve problems and take responsibility, then work becomes more rewarding and society fairer.”
Originally published as ‘Shocked’ Commonwealth Bank worker trained AI replacement
