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That’s the experience of FSU member and former Commonwealth Bank employee Kathryn Sullivan, who spent 25 years working in various roles at the bank. 

For the past few years, she was seconded to a team that focused on developing scripts and procedures for the bank’s newly established messaging system. 

“The whole time we were building this Chatbot, I was so excited for what it would mean for my work, including how it would enable me to better perform my role and deliver excellent service without being bogged down with menial tasks.” 

Along with 44 of her colleagues, Kathryn was devastated when she was told their roles were being made redundant. 

“I was shocked when all those tech jobs got offshored overseas last year, so my colleagues and I were more concerned about our jobs being offshored, not replaced by AI.  

“We never thought the Chatbot would be able to complete the entire messaging process, let alone replace our jobs.” 

Taking our voice to Canberra 

It’s a devastating story, and one that Kathryn has told countless times over recent weeks to both national media outlets and federal politicians. 

She was part of our union’s delegation to Canberra earlier this month, along with fellow FSU members Adrian Thoen, Mackenzi de Piazza and Dhanushi Jayathilaka, as well as FSU National President Wendy Streets and National Assistant Secretary Nicole McPherson. 

With the Federal Government currently considering how AI should be regulated in Australia, members used their time in Canberra to have important discussions with key decision makers, ensuring the voices of finance workers were front and centre. 

Specifically, the FSU presented the government with our roadmap for a ‘digital just transition’. It’s our plan to ensure workers have a say on how AI is used and what needs to happen to protect our job security. 

It includes: 

• Consultation: workers must be consulted at every phase of AI development. 
• Education: workers need paid time to retrain and gain transferrable skills. 
• Data security and surveillance: protections over who has our data and how it is used. 
• Redundancy: fairer redeployment and support when jobs are displaced.

You can view the FSU’s roadmap here.

Humans before AI 

Most finance workers understand that AI is the way of the future. But like any new change (whether technological or otherwise), it needs to be managed carefully and in lockstep with workers. 

Kathryn said she can see the benefits of AI and has always embraced technologies that assist and enhance workflows. 

“I’ve always been excited about processes that help you work smarter to focus on delivering better service to customers,” she said. 

“I understand that AI is good for replacing routine tasks, enabling us to focus on what’s important. 

“But for an issue that’s much more complex, you need to keep that human element. 

“In fact, customers often get annoyed when they think they’re talking to a Chatbot. A lot of the time they want to talk to a human.” 

It’s this sort of nuance that must be considered when any new AI technology is introduced in the workplace.  

CBA’s recent decision to sack 45 employees and replace them with AI is therefore a perfect case study of what employers should not do.  

Their claims that the Chatbot had significantly reduced call volumes didn’t stack up against the evidence presented in our Fair Work Commission dispute. CBA was forced to admit they got it wrong and reversed their decision. 

Unfortunately, we know it’s only a matter of time before another employer makes the same mistake. 

Which is why it is so important that the government acts now to protect workers.  

Kathryn said genuine consultation with workers should be a legal requirement, not a ‘nice to have’. 

“For AI to be successful, workers need to maintain their job security and have a robust road map and policies that still give workers hope and opportunity,” she said. 

“There need to be other roles for people to move into, and workers need to be given the opportunity to upskill into those roles. 

“In the case of CBA, none of those things happened.” 

Without genuine consultation, big business will adopt AI for the sole purpose of boosting profits and without considering the human consequences. More importantly, workers will miss out on our share of the benefits that AI will inevitably bring. 

And if that happens, one thing is certain: Australians won’t see the value in AI, they will only see the threat. 

How is AI changing your workplace? 

FSU members have an important opportunity to shape how our union advocates for improvements to AI consultation and regulation. Find out more here. 

For more information on our AI campaign and to get involved, check out our website now.