Worker who lost job to chatbot confronts bank bosses
A Commonwealth Bank employee who trained an artificial intelligence chatbot and later had it sacked has confronted the bank’s senior executives in front of shareholders.
Kathryn Sullivan was one of 45 customer service workers whose roles were made redundant in late July before they were offered the chance to stay at the bank after the Financial Industry Association sued the Fair Work Commission.
“Not all of the jobs that were offered back were the same jobs that these people were made redundant for,” Ms Sullivan told the bank’s annual general meeting at The Gabba in Brisbane on Wednesday.
“I wanted to know what specific measures (if any) are in place to prevent existing staff roles being replaced by AI, as well as offshoring,” he said.
The 63-year-old said he was made redundant after 25 years at the bank, Australia’s most valuable public company, and had spent the last few years teaching the “Bumblebee” chatbot how to respond to customers.
He expected to be reassigned once he was done developing the script and testing the responses, but was instead told his services were no longer needed.
“We made a mistake,” Chairman Paul O’Malley said, acknowledging how difficult the process was for Ms. Sullivan.
“We did not adequately consider all the commercial considerations involved. And I think that was communicated.”
Chief executive Matt Comyn added that the bank sometimes had to make difficult decisions affecting employees.
“I think it’s really important how we engage with employees, how we try to develop and retain a lot of those skills, and that’s definitely a priority for us going forward,” he said.
The bank posted record profits of $10.1 billion in the year to June 30; Mr Comyn has previously said this figure could have been higher had he made better use of the possibilities of artificial intelligence.
Mr O’Malley also defended the bank’s use of offshore workers in India in response to another question, saying the country was home to an incredible talent pool and the company needed to adapt with the times.
“There has been a dramatic shift in the way customers interact with us and how we need to interact with customers,” he said.
“Fifteen years ago… we weren’t doing everything on our phones.”
Mr O’Malley said where customers once met the bank at branches during traditional opening hours, they now expect staff to be available at all hours of the day.
“So it really makes sense to have people working across time zones to support the 24/7 service to our customers,” he said.
“Better customer engagement requires different ways of thinking.”
Mr Comyn said CBA had more than 6800 employees in India, of whom 3000 worked to combat financial crime and 37,000 were in Australia.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not looking at Australia, continuing to recruit and add talent,” he said.
The bank has also opened a technology hub in Seattle, where it sends a rotating group of around 200 Australian staff each year to upskill. It has also partnered with Griffith University and the University of South Australia to develop local skills.
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