In the past 24 hours, I\u2019ve had no fewer than half a dozen friends and business colleagues forward me articles about Commonwealth Bank\u2019s latest move to reverse some of their AI-driven redundancies in the call centre and customer service areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They know I\u2019m a big advocate of AI in business, so naturally they were curious about my take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first glance, the headlines frame this as \u201cAI not living up to the hype\u201d<\/em> or a tech failure<\/em>. But when you dig into the details, that narrative doesn\u2019t hold up. Instead, the real driver appears to be something older, more entrenched, and less technological: union power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CommBank had originally planned to cut 45 roles<\/strong> in its Customer Service Direct business, replacing them with an AI-powered \u201cvoice bot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Finance Sector Union (FSU) immediately pushed back, and after a tussle at the Fair Work Commission, the bank reversed course. The union was quick to declare it a \u201cmajor win\u201d<\/strong>, and if you read carefully between the lines, that framing rings truer than the idea of \u201cAI failing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, a CBA spokesperson admitted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCBA\u2019s initial assessment that the 45 roles in our Customer Service Direct business were not required did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations and this error meant the roles were not redundant.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n That sounds less like a sudden realisation that bots couldn\u2019t do the job \u2014 and more like carefully crafted HR language designed to placate union shop stewards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no suggestion the AI solution itself was technically incapable. Instead, this case highlights a legal and industrial relations misstep<\/strong>. CommBank underestimated the complexity of redundancy law and the industrial framework around unionised employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not the first time this kind of resistance has happened. In the early 2000s, waterfront unions fought bitterly against port automation. Today, the world\u2019s most efficient ports are fully automated. The technology worked \u2014 but it was industrial relations that slowed adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CommBank case isn\u2019t a \u201cfailure of AI.\u201d It\u2019s a reminder that technology evolves faster than industrial frameworks<\/strong>, and unions still have teeth in certain sectors. AI is coming \u2014 but the pace of adoption will be shaped as much by legal, cultural, and workforce dynamics as by the technology itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s your view \u2014 is this a victory for workers, or just a pause button on the inevitable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the past 24 hours, I\u2019ve had no fewer than half a dozen friends and business colleagues forward me articles about Commonwealth Bank\u2019s latest move to reverse some of their AI-driven redundancies in the call centre and customer service areas. They know I\u2019m a big advocate of AI in business, so naturally they were curious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solutions-for-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232,"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions\/232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excitelabs.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nWhat Actually Happened<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nWhy This Isn\u2019t About AI\u2019s Capability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nLessons for Business Leaders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Don\u2019t assume AI will suddenly wipe out entire teams. What it will<\/em> do is take on repetitive, process-driven tasks, allowing humans to focus on the \u201chuman-only\u201d work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Adoption succeeds when staff are part of the journey. Resistance comes when change is imposed without engagement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Real savings often come not through aggressive layoffs, but by allowing headcount to reduce naturally over time. It\u2019s a slower burn, but usually a gentler and more sustainable path.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
It will be a long while before AI replaces 50% of any sector\u2019s workforce. But make no mistake \u2014 that day will come. And when it does, you don\u2019t want to be the last one scrambling for a lifeboat \u2014 whether you\u2019re a staff member or a business owner.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nFinal Thought<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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