In a move highlighting the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the workforce, a long-time employee of Australia’s largest bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), was made redundant after unwittingly training the very AI system that replaced her.
Kathryn Sullivan, 63, who had worked at the bank for 25 years, was one of 45 employees laid off in July in what are believed to be the first job cuts directly linked to the bank’s use of AI.
At a recent AI symposium in Canberra, Ms. Sullivan revealed she was unaware that her work in creating scripts and testing responses for the bank’s AI chatbot, named Bumblebee, would lead to her job loss. “Inadvertently, I was training a chatbot that took my job,” she told News Corp Australia.
While she had anticipated her role would be redeployed once the bot was fully trained, she was instead informed her position was no longer needed. She expressed her shock at the decision, stating, “I can see a purpose for [AI] in the workplace and outside, I believe there needs to be some sort of regulation to prevent copyright infringements…or replacing humans.”
Ms. Sullivan’s story has ignited a conversation about the ethical implications and future of technology in the workplace, underscoring the concerns many workers have about job security in the age of automation.
