Are the job cuts announced by NAB related to AI replacing humans??
– Berdg Papazian
Good question Berdg.
NAB is making sweeping cuts to its staff, letting go of 6 per cent of its workforce in the next 18 months.
In a statement announcing the news, the words AI or artificial intelligence are not noted.
But it’s worth considering broader statements CEO Andrew Irvine has made in recent months about the pace and path of the technology as it wriggles through corporate systems and business structures.
He spoke to a function for customers in Melbourne in August. Here are some of the key things he said about AI:
“Be under no illusion, AI is the fourth industrial revolution and it will be as consequential to how we live and work as the steam engine, electricity and the computer was to humanity.
“Just as steam-powered rail and shipping connected people and markets over the world, and as electricity and the computer gave us back time, AI will remove friction from how we learn, how we create and how we solve problems.
“At its best, AI will expand human capability by compressing complexity and scaling outcomes at unimaginable speed.
He moved onto a particularly strong point that will resonate with people who’ve used the most complex AI tools: they’re only tools.
“But AI will not be a silver bullet. It’s an amplifier.
“In strong organisations with good cultures, processes and governance, it will accelerate productivity, trust and innovation. It will be a source of competitive advantage.
“In weaker organisations, it will expose flaws, magnify problems and deepen distrust between workers and management.”
Fortunes to be made … and lost …
“Over the coming years, business models and profit pools will shift at much greater speed and fortunes will be made and lost as businesses jostle to compete. Organisations that do not adapt quickly to AI will fall behind.”
And yes, impact on jobs. But a useful link to the past:
“Just like with previous industrial revolutions, some roles will go. Some roles will change. And new roles will be created.
“For example, at the turn of the 20th century, 25 per cent of Australians worked in agriculture. Today that figure is less than 2 per cent. Agriculture remains a key contributor to Australia’s economy but the majority of those last-century jobs have been mechanised and replaced by jobs supporting new industries and new innovations.
“Decades ago, NAB employed thousands of bank tellers, thousands of administrative clerks and we had large typing pools. Today, we employ more colleagues than we did then.
“The point is, our workforce is always changing. What is important is that we help Australians run to AI not from it, learn how to use it to be better at their work and teach them the skills they need to be future-fit.
“History shows that economies that lean in to technology change, and new industries see much better outcomes than economies that seek to protect legacy industries and slow the march of progress.”
Don’t worry, there’s still some good news for the humans.
“Lastly, and I believe very importantly, AI will not replace the human skills that matter in business and in life.”
From speaking to him at a previous event, he discusses the immense differences between the pace and complexity of AI implementation between here and the US.
Perhaps today’s announcement is a notice that we’re narrowing that gap, with tough news for the humans left out of the change.