{"id":783438,"date":"2026-07-06T21:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783438\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:31:11","slug":"artificial-intelligence-aussie-workers-admit-to-ai-habit-that-could-get-them-sacked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/783438\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence: Aussie workers admit to AI habit that could get them sacked"},"content":{"rendered":"

One in three Australian employees have confessed to a sneaky AI<\/a> habit that could cost them their jobs<\/a> \u2013 and some businesses are already onto them.<\/p>\n

Data from Employment Hero reveals 34 per cent of workers<\/a> admit they use AI tools without their company\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n

Most large organisations provide employees with access to approved AI tools for use in the workplace<\/a>, and a clear AI use policy to guide how they use it.<\/p>\n

This is to ensure employees don\u2019t risk breaching privacy, confidentiality, and governance policies by entering sensitive data into publicly available AI tools, which may not be secure.<\/p>\n

Despite the risks, nearly half of businesses said they are aware of employees using personal AI accounts like ChatGPT to work on sensitive data without an official company licence or policy.<\/p>\n

About 11 per cent of businesses said it\u2019s a big problem at their workplace, and 32 per cent said it\u2019s a small problem.<\/p>\n

Dr Giuseppe Carabetta, associate professor of workplace and business law<\/a> at the University of Technology Sydney, told nine.com.au workers that use AI tools without their employer\u2019s knowledge or use personal AI tools could be fired.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe short answer is yes, employees can be disciplined \u2013 and in some cases dismissed \u2013 for inappropriate AI use,\u201d he told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legal issue is usually not using AI, but how it is used and whether that use breaches workplace obligations, whether in an express policy or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using AI tools without your employer\u2019s knowledge could open you up to allegations of breach of confidentiality, misuse of personal information, and breach of cybersecurity requirements.<\/p>\n

It may also be a breach of your workplace AI use policy.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no \u2018get out of jail free\u2019 card if your employer doesn\u2019t have a formal AI use policy either.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn AI policy […] makes expectations clearer, but employees do not suddenly become free to disregard other workplace obligations just because no dedicated AI policy exists,\u201d Carabetta said.<\/p>\n

The same risks apply to employees who use unapproved personal or public AI tools to do their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen employees use personal or similar AI accounts for work tasks […] the organisation often has no visibility over what information is uploaded, where it is stored, and who can access it later,\u201d Carabetta said.<\/p>\n

Serious breaches could result in disciplinary action or even get an employee fired.<\/p>\n

\"Pedestrians<\/p>\n

Using unapproved AI tools or using AI without your employer’s knowledge could get you sacked.\u00a0Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n

It\u2019s wise to be transparent about using AI at work, keep records of how you use AI, and never put sensitive work information into public AI tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cA prudent employee should use employer-approved AI tools wherever possible and never upload confidential, client, financial, HR or commercially sensitive information without approval,\u201d Carabetta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUse AI as an assistant, not as an unsupervised substitute for professional judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI use has exploded in Australian workplaces over the last 12 months, with many Aussie employees reporting it has had a positive impact.<\/p>\n

Three quarters said it has boosted their productivity, 74 per cent said it improved the quality of their work, and 61 per cent said it helped them develop more valuable skills.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/p>\n

One in three Aussie workers are using AI tools without their employers’ knowledge.\u00a0alexsl<\/p>\n

However, close to half admit using AI to do parts of their job feels like cheating.<\/p>\n

James Keene, Employment Hero APAC managing director, told nine.com.au that even though more Aussies are adopting AI at work, there\u2019s still some tension around it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany employees using AI regularly feel a sense of guilt about it, like they shouldn\u2019t be using AI, or that it\u2019s \u2018cheating\u2019, even when it\u2019s helping them do better work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One in three Australian employees have confessed to a sneaky AI habit that could cost them their jobs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-783438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}