The \u201ccon\u201d of artificial intelligence is that companies are sacking workers to build more tech, while saying AI will not replace jobs, a Tasmanian senator said.<\/p>\n
Tasmanian Labor senator Josh Dolega fired a few questions at Atlassian\u2019s head of regulation on Thursday, at the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the Sydney-founded tech company sacked 1500 workers, including 500 in Australia, to fund its AI advancements.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re part of what we have been hearing, that workers and the AI is going to create all these opportunities for people, but you\u2019re directly attributed that you have cut the livelihoods of 1500 workers, including 500 Australians, to invest into AI,\u201d Mr Dolega said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of the con that I\u2019m seeing, where workers are bearing the unfair burden of artificial intelligence in workplaces. Please try and change my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question was directed at Atlassian\u2019s regulatory affairs and responsible AI head, Anna Jaffe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to take a step back and just address the lay-offs themselves. Specifically, I want to be super clear that was one of the toughest decisions that Atlassian has ever had to make as a company, and that was in response to a real shift in the environment at the time,\u201d Ms Jaffe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were really clear at the time, that those actions were taken specifically to self-fund our investment in AI and in enterprise sales and strengthen our overall financial profile when it comes to what that means for roles in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose core beliefs that I mentioned earlier, in terms of AI, will ultimately create more jobs. We do not believe that AI replaces jobs,\u201d Ms Jaffe said.<\/p>\n
The senator was not impressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the people who lost their jobs would probably disagree with you there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Strikingly little trust in the technology\u2019<\/p>\n
A peak union leader told the committee Australians by and large are having no say in how their employers begin using artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality us, so far, working people have had strikingly little say in how AI is transforming our working lives,\u201d Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Melissa Donnelly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrikingly little say in the big decisions being made on how AI is developed and deployed.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnions agree, there are many potential benefits if this technology, as there is with all technologies, if it is safe, if it is used to elevate the quality of work, and if its benefits are fairly shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we have to be honest about the reality \u2013 that has not been the experience of working people with AI so far,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Donnelly pointed to the 2500 NAB lay-offs just this week. She highlighted creatives having their work stolen, retail workers being surveyed and held to \u201cinhuman standards\u201d, aged care workers being directed by algorithms, and teachers\u2019 images being turned into deepfake porn.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many employers are treating workers as robots \u2013 not as human beings. The reality of working people who are already experiencing the harms of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
National Australia Bank was in damage control trying to say the job cuts were not related to automation, Ms Donnelly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorkers were told of the cuts at the same time the stock market was told.<\/p>\n
\u201cNAB management refused to confirm with the union if the cuts were associated with AI. This is a perfect example of the lack of transparency around these \u2026 Despite NAB and other banks saying we need to grow and develop tech skills in Australia, they are slashing tech and engineering jobs in these cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The peak union group sees the OpenAI agent hack of Medicare as a \u201cwatershed\u201d moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpenAI keeps telling us what we have to do to make it easier for them to develop their products here,\u201d Ms Donnelly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know they have knocked down doors to lobby for their changes when it suited them.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when the risk was to us, to Australians, they couldn\u2019t even be bothered to send an email to the right address. It is not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ACTU is calling for a licensing regime as a precondition for frontier AI training to take place in Australia.<\/p>\n
The giant US tech companies could not be making Australia\u2019s economic decisions, she said.<\/p>\n
As well as a licensing regime under a regulator, the ACTU wants modern workers\u2019 rights to be updated for the \u201cAI age\u201d.<\/p>\n
But the union wants AI investment in Australia bolstered, so Australia is not dependent on other countries \u2013 and advancements can be tailored to positively augment jobs, and create well-paying, safe jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tech bros want us to believe that we as a country are powerless. But we are not,\u201d Ms Donnelly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we have heard from leading experts throughout this inquiry, we absolutely can be an AI maker and not a taker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schoolgirls targeted by AI deepfakes<\/p>\n
Australian schoolgirls and female teachers are being targeted by AI-generated sexualised deepfakes, education unions have warned, calling for tougher protections as schools struggle to keep pace with rapidly developing technology.<\/p>\n
The Australian Education Union (AEU) told a federal parliamentary inquiry in Melbourne on Thursday that reports of deepfake image abuse involving school-aged children had doubled in 18 months, with at least one school-related incident reported each week.<\/p>\n
The union said artificial intelligence (AI) was making it easier to produce explicit manipulated images of female students and teachers, creating new safety risks for schools.<\/p>\n
AEU federal secretary Nicole Calnan said teachers were also being targeted by the technology, with some incidents potentially driving staff out of the profession.<\/p>\n
The union called for stronger legal protections for both students and staff, arguing that a proposed digital duty of care should extend beyond children to cover all Australians.<\/p>\n
Independent Education Union federal secretary Brad Hayes said schools were increasingly being forced to manage the consequences of AI adoption before adequate safeguards had been established.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should not have to wait until girls or female teachers are harmed before protections are put in place,\u201d Mr Hayes said.<\/p>\n
He said AI-generated abuse had become a serious safety and wellbeing issue across public and private schools.<\/p>\n
The unions also raised concerns about the rapid introduction of AI platforms without adequate consultation with teachers.<\/p>\n
The AEU said education departments were making decisions about AI procurement before teachers were involved, leaving staff to adapt to systems they had little say in selecting.<\/p>\n
Ms Calnan said teachers were struggling to keep pace with constantly changing technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeachers are feeling like they\u2019re flailing really, because they\u2019re playing catch up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Despite government promises that artificial intelligence could reduce teacher workloads, the union said its members were not experiencing those benefits.<\/p>\n
Instead, teachers were spending additional time checking and correcting AI-generated material.<\/p>\n
Mr Hayes described contrasting experiences in non-government schools, including one employer that introduced AI through extensive trials and paid professional development.<\/p>\n
Another employer had mandated a new AI system without prior consultation, leaving teachers to complete training on top of their existing duties, he said.<\/p>\n
The unions also warned that students could become increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence to complete schoolwork rather than develop their own critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n
Mr Hayes said teachers were confronting growing challenges involving plagiarism, academic integrity and students outsourcing their thinking to generative AI.<\/p>\n
Schools were redesigning assessments to preserve authentic learning, but the changes were adding pressure to already overstretched staff, he said.<\/p>\n
The National Tertiary Education Union raised similar concerns about universities, warning that academic staff had not been given sufficient time to redesign assessments or consider the effects of AI on student learning.<\/p>\n
NTEU representative Gabe Gooding said the uncontrolled adoption of artificial intelligence could have long-term consequences for education and research.<\/p>\n
The union also warned that AI-generated academic papers containing fabricated information threatened the reliability of research.<\/p>\n
The AEU called for binding education-specific AI standards, compulsory consultation before systems were purchased and greater investment in digital infrastructure and teacher training.<\/p>\n
It also proposed a levy on commercial data centre operators to help fund TAFE infrastructure and AI skills training.<\/p>\n
The unions gave evidence as the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence examined the implications of the technology for Australian workers and institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201ccon\u201d of artificial intelligence is that companies are sacking workers to build more tech, while saying 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