Last week we saw headlines out of the Commonwealth Bank that indicated it would hire back some of its sacked workers after a bid to replace them with robots failed. Let's not point and laugh at the bank too much: this is exactly the right thing to do.

What happened?

Commonwealth Bank has backtracked on plans to cut 45 customer-service roles and replace them with an AI “voice bot”, following pressure from Finance Sector Union (FSU) members and a dispute before the Fair Work Commission. 

According to the FSU, staff on the ground reported rising call volumes, overtime being offered, and team leaders pulled onto phones—contradicting management’s claim that AI was reducing calls.

CBA has “admitted it got it wrong”, the union says, and affected employees will be offered either to stay in their roles or take a voluntary exit payment. 

The FSU argues the episode caused weeks of unnecessary stress for the workers and warns that offshoring, automation and AI continue to threaten job security across the sector. 

A further Fair Work Commission hearing is scheduled for 25 August.

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said the outcome is “a massive win for workers,” but added: “Using AI as a cover for slashing secure jobs is a cynical cost-cutting exercise.”

CBA isn't the only big corporate to announce large-scale experiments with AI in their workforce, with other banks and even some outside the sector such as Telstra flagging that they're welcoming a few clankers into their ranks.

Don't point and laugh too much

It's easy to hate AI right now. I count myself as a proud hater of robo-scum apps stealing en masse from writers and other creatives the world over to masquerade as great writer replacements.

If you're a hater like me, you know that there's nothing you love more than to see someone else fail very publicly with their AI deployment as CBA has. But honestly, we shouldn't point and laugh too much.

This is exactly the way I want Corporate Australia to behave when they find out they've overplayed their hand on new technologies like AI.

AI and corporates are still finding a balance

You're going to see huge shifts in Aussie corporates - hell, even in small businesses - thanks to AI. 

But what business needs to realise quick-smart is that AI isn't like having a calculator on your phone that can do your counting for you. It's not a cure-all that's going to instantly replace a fully-fledged human in your business.

It might be in the next 12-36 months, but certainly not today.

Corporates like CBA should learn to quickly adapt their workforce to new innovations in the AI space. That way, decisions can be incremental and rational instead of snap and abrupt.

It doesn't make for a sexy market announcement, but it's better than the humans pointing and laughing at your board for thinking that a clanker could do a human's job straight out of the box.

Congrats to those getting their jobs back, and congrats to CBA for swallowing its pride on automation in general.