Kathryn trained the CommBank AI bot that ended up making her role redundant. · Getty/Supplied/CBA
A long-serving Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) employee approaching retirement was excited to be involved in helping new artificial intelligence (AI) bots learn how to better support her customers. The single mother had no idea she was actually training the chatbot that, after her 25 years of service, would cannibalise her job.
Kathryn fought back tears as she told Yahoo Finance she was utterly devastated to learn she was among 45 workers being made redundant in favour of the new technology in late July. The Queensland mum had worked with the bank since 2000, and after two decades in face-to-face customer service, she took a “super exciting” new role in online customer service.
“I was loyal for so long, and this is the thanks I get,” the 63-year-old said.
“I gave my heart and soul to the business. I wore the uniform with pride.”
Kathryn, who is the full-time carer of a son with mild intellectual disabilities, had loved working in branches across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, however the online role allowed her the flexibility to work from home.
“It was great to be part of that ground-floor work on starting customer messaging… I could see the benefits, except I didn’t look far enough to see it taking my job,” she told Yahoo Finance.
Have you been affected by AI at work and want to tell your story? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com
The new role required her to respond to enquiries from customers as well as train an AI chatbot.
The bank worker told Yahoo Finance she developed scripts for the bot, known as Bumblebee, and would see what worked and what didn’t when they were used with legitimate customers.
Having oversight in the rollout, Kathryn would step in and respond to customer requests when the chatbot ran into issues or didn’t have the right information.
The AI technology was able to learn from these experiences so that it could address a range of problems and use language that mimicked a human experience.
Then the twist Kathryn didn’t seem coming.
Bumblebee became more advanced — so much so that there was less need for her and other members of her team involved in the bot’s training or the service it was providing.
In July, Kathryn was given one hour’s notice to attend a meeting.
There she was told she was being made redundant.
Kathryn wanted to keep working for a few more years before retirement and worries about competing with younger people for work. (Source: Supplied) · Supplied
Kathryn was devastated, recalling the countless hours of overtime and weekend work she’d put in over her 25 year tenure.
“I’ve been living and breathing CommBank since 2000,” she said.
“I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Kathryn had told the bank a year earlier that she was looking to retire by 2029 and she was afraid about how she could continue to support her son.
“He’s going to be my responsibility until I die, so my retirement money isn’t just going to be for me,” she said.
“It’s going to be to ensure I’m maintaining his lifestyle as well.”
Unions in the banking and tech sector fired up when CBA announced the redundancies, citing a shift toward AI chatbot alternatives to human workers.
This resulted in the bank walking back its decision and apologising to affected staff.
They were told they could keep their jobs or take voluntary redundancies.
“We are currently supporting affected employees and have provided them with a choice regarding continuing in their current roles, pursuing redeployment within CBA or to proceed with leaving the organisation,” a spokesperson for the bank told Yahoo Finance
Kathryn was rattled after losing her job and feared it was only a matter of time before it happened again.
The Aussie mum said CBA could not give any assurances about how long she’d be kept on the payroll.
“What am I supposed to do?” she said.
“Straight away, I thought ‘I’ll need to get another job. How am I going to do that while competing with people much younger than me?’
“You just don’t think that’s going to happen to you at this stage of life.”
Commonwealth Bank has invested billions in developing new technology. · Asanka Ratnayake via Getty Images
Kathryn was offered redeployment in the fraud and scams department.
She was excited by the prospect of entering a new team, but was concerned, as the only roles available were responding to phone enquiries.
Kathryn said this role would be far more demanding than resolving online chat enquiries and felt she could not keep up with the change of pace.
She asked about a job in direct banking, but said she was told there were no jobs and other departments were facing a six-month hiring freeze.
Kathryn felt defeated and accepted a voluntary redundancy.
Unions are calling for workers to have a seat at the table when businesses, big and small, want to adopt AI.
It’s not just the banking sector that has been impacted.
Aussie tech company Atlassian recently announced 150 people would lose their jobs and some of their tasks would be handled by AI.
Telstra has been the other big-name company admitting that AI will likely see its workforce get smaller in the coming years as the technology outperforms humans in certain roles.
It has also mandated every worker to start using AI to see if it can help with certain tasks.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has pushed for tougher AI regulations to protect Aussie workers from suffering the same fate as Kathryn.
ACTU assistant secretary, Joseph Mitchell, said deserved to be trained to harness the power of the technology, not simply be replaced by it in a “a United States-style ‘let it rip’ approach”.
“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,” he said.
“Working people need to know their key concerns, such as job security, are not going to be left unprotected.”
CBA has plunged $2 billion into new technology to drive efficiency and “deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes”.
“That means some roles and work can change,” a CBA spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
“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.”
The bank has rolled out a 24-hour ChatGPT-style messaging tool for business customers, a generative-AI chatbot for everyday customers, as well as an AI-powered scam detection tool.
ACTU assistant secretary Joseph Mitchell and FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano are calling for Aussie companies to protect human workers. (Source: ACTU/FSU)
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) national secretary Julia Angrisano said AI technology poses a significant threat to workers if proper protections are not put in place.
“CBA has been caught out trying to dress up job cuts as innovation,” she said.
“Using AI as a cover for slashing secure jobs is a cynical cost-cutting exercise, and workers know it.”
Angrisano said workers should be “part of the conversation about how new technology is used”, particularly if it can impact their job prospects.
While some young people are leaning toward trades as they feel it’s more resistant to technological takeover, a recent study by Jobs and Skills Australia found generative AI has the capacity to change most occupations.
Commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia, Professor Barney Glover, said it presents “tremendous” opportunities to boost productivity, but not without serious challenges.
“Adaptability will be critical for Australia to realise the potential benefits from AI, which will see new jobs emerge and existing jobs change,” he said.
“This has the potential to displace people in some jobs, particularly administrative and clerical roles.”
Microsoft recently analysed hundreds of jobs to see which could be most affected by AI in the future.
Interpreters, phone operators, mathematicians and public relations specialists were among the exhaustive list.
A poll of more than 2,900 Yahoo Finance readers found 41 per cent of readers were worried their job would soon be overtaken by AI, with 7 per cent saying it already had been.
Kathryn said she understood that AI was a great development for many sectors.
But she called on banks and other industries not to lose sight of their human workers.
“It’s really unfair that they are getting rid of people like me,” she said.
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