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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n One of the country\u2019s largest mining companies has told staff that it won\u2019t hire more people unless the job cannot be done by artificial intelligence, joining a wave of Australian corporations curbing their workforce because of the new technology.<\/p>\n Industry sources said employees at the $11.5 billion West Australian mining giant Mineral Resources have been told the company won\u2019t hire staff if a role can be done by AI, or an existing employee using artificial intelligence tools, though it is unclear how widely the rule applies within the company.<\/p>\n The move comes after big Australian tech companies WiseTech<\/a> and Atlassian both announced major job cuts<\/a> this year driven in part by artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n A day after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered a major speech on how the country will manage the AI transition, Mineral Resources\u2019 hiring restriction highlights the challenge the federal government has in balancing the productivity benefits of artificial intelligence against job losses and other risks.<\/p>\n Industry sources have also said managers at Mineral Resources receive information about times that team members arrive at the office as the company pushes to increase productivity by having staff work in person together. A spokesman for the company, which faced governance issues and depressed commodity prices before a rebound in recent months, declined to comment.<\/p>\n Related Article While Australia is yet to see widespread AI job losses, employment growth has been slowing in occupations most exposed to automation, according to a recent federal government report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Between November 2022, when AI tools started to become widely available, and February 2026, employment in the occupations most exposed to AI grew by 5.6 per cent, compared with 9.5 per cent for jobs that were least exposed.<\/p>\n Those highly exposed occupations \u2014 generally cognitive roles involving routine, predictable tasks \u2014 also recorded slower growth in hours worked, bigger falls in the number of job advertisements and a larger jump in unemployment.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Albanese reversed the government\u2019s hands-off approach to AI regulation, announcing new Australian AI standards and a new Office of AI. He also signalled the need for data centres to create more jobs over the longer term.<\/p>\n As interest rates and price pressures have risen, businesses have looked to slim down their costs, and they have looked for ways to operate more efficiently.<\/p>\n Nearly one in three Australian businesses use AI for advanced tasks such as predicting demand, according to the Reserve Bank<\/a>. And some are cracking down on office attendance.<\/p>\n While businesses have been cautious about attributing layoffs and hiring freezes directly to AI, several firms have done so in recent years.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, last year axed 45 customer service roles, but it was forced to backtrack after the AI-powered \u201cvoice bot\u201d it introduced led to a spike in workload. Earlier this year, the bank eliminated 300 jobs while announcing a $90 million program to prepare staff for an AI-driven workplace.<\/p>\n Related Article CBA also requires employees to attend the office at least 50 per cent of the time, having cracked down on \u201ccoffee badging\u201d where employees would swipe their access cards to get into the office, grab a coffee, then leave.<\/p>\n While tech companies such as Atlassian have said their approach is not \u201cAI replaces people\u201d, chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes has said it would be \u201cdisingenuous to pretend AI doesn\u2019t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas\u201d.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Atlassian cut nearly 500 jobs from its Australian workforce as AI reshaped its labour needs. WiseTech announced in February that it would cut 2000 jobs for the same reason.<\/p>\n Oil and gas giant Chevron last year axed hundreds of jobs in Australia, saying at the time it was \u201ctaking action to simplify our organisational structure, execute faster and more effectively, and position the company for stronger long-term competitiveness\u201d.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the company this week said Chevron uses AI to enhance workforce capability, improve decision-making and support safer, more efficient operations.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we continually evaluate how technology, including AI, can enhance the way we work, we do not view AI as a substitute for the expertise, judgment and experience of our people,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n University of Melbourne labour market expert Jeff Borland said research so far showed the effect of AI on Australian jobs broadly remained minimal, but there was some evidence of slowing employment growth among occupations most exposed to AI, especially among \u201croutine\u201d jobs.<\/p>\n He said there were several reasons why some businesses may be attributing their hiring freezes to AI. \u201cThey could be using technology adoption as an excuse for cost-cutting, overestimating how much AI can do, or be ahead of the curve and a sign of the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On employee monitoring systems, Borland said a balance needed to be struck. \u201cMonitoring systems seen as overly intrusive can be counterproductive for workers\u2019 motivation and worsen employee turnover,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s biggest company, BHP, is using AI in maintenance, supply chain, exploration and planning but it continues to hire, at least in areas where it needs capability and expertise.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cAI is helping us make better, faster decisions across our operations,\u201d a spokesperson said. \u201cFrom predicting equipment issues before they occur to improving how we plan and move material through the supply chain, it\u2019s helping our people work more effectively and identify risks earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n The company does not track \u201ctime at desk\u201d as a metric.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Fortescue, which doesn\u2019t have a specific policy requiring teams to demonstrate a role cannot be automated before it is filled, said human judgment remained at the centre of decision-making, but that the \u201cbusinesses that embrace AI will outperform those that don\u2019t\u201d.<\/p>\n Iron ore giant Rio Tinto has been contacted for comment about its office attendance policies and the impact of AI on its hiring intentions.<\/p>\n The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day\u2019s trading. 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Businesses are increasingly choosing between humans and AI to do tasks.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Prime](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784206287_973_e0f1d47add74988f739d4ab165632f229de6d2ea.jpeg\")
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Millie Muroi<\/a> is the economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age covering workplace and economics. She was formerly an economics correspondent based in Canberra\u2019s Press Gallery and the banking writer based in Sydney.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-803945","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\/803945","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=803945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}