Commonwealth Bank reverses 45 job cuts it attributed to an AI voice bot

What happened?

On 29 July 2025 CBA confirmed to ABC News that it had axed 45 jobs in its customer call centres after rolling out an AI chatbot to handle customer inquiries. A CBA spokesperson said the bank reviews "the skills we need and how we're organised to deliver the best customer experiences" and that its priority was redeployment. The bank had briefed the Finance Sector Union (FSU) the week before, which ABC News reported was the first time a bank had told the union its job cuts were due to AI.[1][5]

The FSU said its members' experience contradicted the bank's case: call volumes in Direct Banking were rising, and CBA was offering staff overtime and directing team leaders to answer calls. According to Bloomberg, the bank had said the voice bot reduced call volumes by 2,000 a week. The union took CBA to the Fair Work Commission, saying the bank would not be transparent about call volumes.[3][4]

On 21 August 2025 CBA reversed the cuts. It told ABC News the roles were not redundant despite the voice bot, described the decision as an "error", apologised to the 45 employees, and said it "should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required". Staff were given the choice of continuing in their roles, redeployment within the bank, or leaving CBA; the FSU said a payment to exit would still be offered to those who chose it.[2][4][8]

At CBA's annual general meeting in Brisbane on 15 October 2025, one of the 45 affected employees asked the board what safeguards now protected staff from AI and offshoring, noting that not all the jobs offered back were the same as those cut. Chair Paul O'Malley replied: "We made a mistake. We didn't adequately consider all the relevant business considerations." Chief executive Matt Comyn said the bank had "incorrectly estimated the demand for those roles going forward". The employee had declined the role she was offered, news.com.au reported.[6][7]

When did it happen?

1. Jun 2025

   CBA introduces a voice bot on its inbound customer enquiries line, according to the Finance Sector Union.[5]

2. Jul 29, 2025

   CBA confirms to ABC News and Reuters that 45 call-centre roles are being cut after it rolled out an AI voice bot for customer inquiries.[1][5]

3. Aug 2025

   The Finance Sector Union takes a dispute over the cuts and call volumes to the Fair Work Commission.[3][4]

4. Aug 21, 2025

   CBA reverses the 45 redundancies, calls the decision an "error" and apologises to the affected employees.[2][3][4]

5. Oct 15, 2025

   At CBA's AGM, chair Paul O'Malley tells an affected employee "We made a mistake"; CEO Matt Comyn says the bank incorrectly estimated demand for the roles.[6][7]

What was the impact?

• Customers: No customer harm reported[2][4]
• Other: 45 customer-service employees in CBA's Direct Banking call centres were told their roles were redundant before the decision was reversed.[2][4]

Severity 2 of 5: A policy reversal with limited harm: 45 employees were told their roles were redundant before the bank withdrew the cuts; no customer harm, loss or regulatory action has been reported.

How did Commonwealth Bank of Australia respond?

CBA said the 45 roles were not redundant, called the cuts an "error" and apologised to the affected employees. It acknowledged it "did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations" and said: "We are also reviewing our internal processes to improve our approach going forward." At the October 2025 AGM chair Paul O'Malley said "We made a mistake" and that "future processes are baked in such that the risk of that happening again is very much mitigated".[2][7]

What was the outcome, and did regulators act?

The redundancies were rescinded and staff could stay, be redeployed or leave with an exit payment. No regulator action has been reported as of 21 October 2026. The FSU called the reversal a win but kept its wider Fair Work dispute with CBA over offshoring, automation and AI open, with a further hearing scheduled for late August 2025.[2][4][8]

1. Commonwealth Bank replaces dozens of call centre jobs with AI chatbot news
   ABC News · Jul 29, 2025
   “One of Australia's largest employers has axed 45 jobs in its customer call centres after rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to deal with customer inquiries.”
2. Commonwealth Bank backtracks on AI job cuts, apologises for 'error' as call volumes rise news
   ABC News · Aug 21, 2025
   “CBA admitted it "did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations" when announcing the redundancies and acknowledged "we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required".”
3. Australia's Biggest Bank Reverses Plan to Replace Jobs With AI news
   Bloomberg · Aug 21, 2025
   “The nation's largest lender had said that the voice bot reduced call volumes by 2,000 a week, when union members said volumes were in fact rising and CBA had to offer staff overtime and direct team leaders to answer calls, the union said.”
4. WIN: CBA backflips on customer service job cuts, admits they got it wrong news
   Finance Sector Union · Aug 21, 2025
   “Call volumes were in fact increasing and CBA was scrambling to manage the situation by offering staff overtime and directing Team Leaders to answer calls.”
5. Australian lender CBA to cut 45 jobs in AI shift, draws union backlash news
   Reuters · Jul 29, 2025
   “Commonwealth Bank of Australia confirmed on Tuesday it is cutting 45 jobs as part of a shift toward using artificial intelligence to handle certain tasks, prompting a union to accuse the bank of excluding workers from the evolving economy.”
6. Bank admits 'mistake' over worker who lost job to AI news
   Australian Associated Press (via Illawarra Mercury) · Oct 15, 2025
   “"We didn't adequately consider all the relevant business considerations. And I think that's been communicated."”
7. 'Made a mistake': Former CBA worker confronts banking bosses over AI redundancies news
   news.com.au · Oct 16, 2025
   “"In this particular instance when we did that assessment we incorrectly estimated the demand for those roles going forward," he said.”
8. CommBank reverses plan to replace call centre staff with AI news
   Finextra · Aug 22, 2025