In an interview with this masthead, Mitchell did not specify how strong the job security guarantees would have to be, what would happen to employers who do not reach agreements with staff, or how nationwide AI laws would work.
We dont think there is a case for AI to be adopted to cause mass redundancies, he said.
Employers need to come to their staff and come to their workplaces with a plan on how AI is going to be used to grow the business, but have transparency over the use and job security in place.
Regardless of the way its done, a national AI authority is important, we want to see a whole-of-government approach in the adoption of AI because there will be issues if you dont get a coherent whole-of-government approach, he said.
The federal government announced last year it would legislate to deal with the use of AI in high-risk settings, but has not yet brought the laws to parliament.
The ACTUs announcement to push for further protections against AI comes after Commonwealth Bank announced 90 jobs would be cut to be replaced by AI systems and cheaper offshore labour.
The Finance Sector Union said that of the 90 jobs cut, 45 were cut due to the introduction of a chatbot system on the banks inbound customer enquiries line in June.
Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI. Yet rather than invest in its people the CBA are simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring, FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said.
If this is what [chief executive of CBA] Matt Comyn calls productivity, were seriously concerned about his place at the national productivity roundtable.
A spokesperson from CBA said that while the 45 roles would be replaced by AI, it would open opportunities for new positions. By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience, a spokesperson said.
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Productivity
Our priority is to explore opportunities for redeployment and to support affected employees with care, dignity and respect throughout the process. This includes access to redeployment options, career transition services and wellbeing resources.
Employment law expert from the University of Melbourne Alysia Blackham said employers taking up AI early risked ineffective outcomes as the technology is not yet mature.
We have a risk of it creating bias or discrimination, which can lead to really poor outcomes, she said.
Employers are not able to replace their workers with these tools in any realistic sense but bringing employees along on this technology journey is going to be really critical in building trust in these tools.
