Commonwealth Bank reverses 45 AI role cuts after bot underperforms

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has reversed its plan to cut 45 customer service roles that were set to be replaced by an AI-powered voice bot, after the bot failed to deliver the claimed efficiency gains. The bank says affected staff will be offered redeployment or continued employment in their current roles, while apologizing for the miscalculation that had initially framed the move as a straightforward productivity improvement. The reversal comes amid ongoing concerns from the sector’s biggest union that AI-driven workforce reductions are being used as a cover for cost-cutting, with calls for greater worker involvement and retraining.

In the days following the original announcement, union officials asserted that call volumes were not being reduced as claimed. They said managers were forced to work overtime and that team leaders were pulled onto the phones to manage rising demand, undermining the stated rationale for the redundancies. The Finance Sector Union described the decision as a significant but limited win for the affected employees, while stressing that the broader risk remains: more so-called efficiency measures dressed up as AI and digital transformation are...