Commonwealth Bank cuts 45 call centre jobs after AI chatbot rollout
Commonwealth Bank of Australia confirmed it cut 45 call centre jobs after deploying an AI chatbot to handle customer inquiries. The Finance Sector Union criticized the move as the first bank-led job cuts it had seen attributed to AI, though the bank said it had thousands of open roles and would support affected staff with redeployment and transition services.
What happened
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia confirmed it was cutting 45 jobs in its customer call centres after rolling out an artificial intelligence chatbot to handle customer inquiries.
The bank said it would explore opportunities for redeployment and support affected employees with career transition services and wellbeing resources.
Reported impact
The Finance Sector Union said the move was outrageous and that affected workers should be retrained and supported into new roles leveraging AI technology.
A union spokesman stated this was the first time a bank had informed the union its job cuts were due to AI deployment.
Governance controls
The bank said it hired more than 9,000 people over the past year and had about 670 open roles across Retail Banking Services and frontline teams to redeploy or reskill staff.
The Commonwealth Bank rejected allegations that jobs were being sent offshore.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.