Telstra boss Vicki Brady hasn't spoken much about the development of AI in this week's results, but he was just as outspoken on his recent Strategy Day.
“There are many possibilities, including customer engagement, how to operate and manage your network, how to develop software and manage your IT environment, how to support office backs when you tend to have manual processes.”
It sounds like a great opportunity for Australian businesses, but when you look at it from the advantages of employees, it sounds rather surprising.
After all, both are relatively low-growth companies with large investments in AI. Will this investment be rewarded by increasing the productivity of workers or replacing them?
CBA chief Matt Cominn has made a record $10 billion in return this week despite increasing spending on AI, which is the forefront and center of presentations to investors and analysts. credit: Oscar Colman
“The CBA preaches productivity and innovation publicly and quietly erodes local work. This hypocrisy cannot be challenged,” said Julia Angusano, secretary of the Finance Sector Union, after the bank's records earned $10 billion this week.
The Australian Union Council has requested that employers ensure the safety of their work before they introduce artificial intelligence to be slaughtered from their duties.
Local scholars used research by the International Labour Organization to translate findings on AI unemployment into Australia. They came up with amazing predictions for the future of Australian AI in 2050. 32% of Australia's current employment could be done by AI.
“But that doesn't mean that 32% lose their jobs overnight,” Victoria University scholars Janine Dixon and James Lennox said in a report they posted. conversation last week.
“Installing AI features takes time and giving people time to train for alternative carriers. Many of the impacts could be years away.”
This timeframe gives AI much time to move beyond relatively low-level tasks, such as replacing basic call center tasks, to swap white-collar jobs like software developers.
Load
So, what does Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon Brukes think of the impact of AI transformation on the company he built with Farker? It's a frenzy of AI upgrades on its own products and certainly sees the benefits of productivity.
Despite his proficiency in AI coding, Cannonbrook looks at a bright future. The famous 2011 claim by US billionaire venture capitalist Mark Andreessen appears to continue to be “software is eating the world.”
“Do you think there will be far fewer developers around the world five years from now? No, I don't think so,” Cannon Brucks told investors last week about the company's revenue conference call.
“Yes, we still have a lot of engineers and developers growing our business.”
The Cannon-Brookes argument is simple. The world requires far more software, and AI means it's cheaper and easier to extend development beyond corporate technology teams to the real business itself.
“Whether they're finance, HR or marketing, there's probably a lot more people who write software,” he says.
Be careful, Atlassian is riding a lot of this version of the future. That business is literally built into the management of workflows and projects for this type of development.
If this development can be done with AI bots rather than teams of employees, the fate of Farker and Cannonbrook will rapidly diminish.
However, even AI transforms low-level customer work, such as call centres, are not necessarily seen as bad for local jobs.
According to John Munnelly, KPMG's Chief Digital Officer, it could represent the bounty of our country.
“A lot of the things AI is improving are tasks we used offshore, like call centre work,” he says.
“The Australian economy has great opportunities with AI.”
John Mannell, KPMG Chief Digital Officer
The productivity dividend mentioned by Farquhar could actually make this work more work possible here.
“The Australian economy has great opportunities with AI,” Munnelly said.
Load
But what's interesting is already happening more on the wage chain – like KPMG's new AI tax tool, executives can significantly accelerate their delivery of first draft advice to clients.
“Previously, if a client is in the middle of a transaction, it would take two weeks. Now, you can literally get out the door in just one day,” Munnelly says.
KPMG CEO Andrew Yates was left to address the challenges this brings. What will this KPMG employee do in the nine days previously spent on this work?
“I think our current hypothesis is that what we do is change. But AI and the technology we have produce so much more data that it changes from matching that data to assess, analyze, presenting, and interpreting much more data than is currently available,” he says.
“We'll really need that insight and technical understanding of all the data generated.”
There is a more mediocre problem with analysts trying to understand AI talks that are beginning to creep up season speeches and rising costs.
“Companies want to point out investments in AI, but when do you see when it translates into final profits?” asked UBS strategist Richard Schelbach.
Even Comyn, who packed over a dozen AI references into his introduction to the bank's full-year results, came up with a careful answer.
He foresees a more effective workforce and generates higher quality jobs both with revenue and cost-out opportunities. But he doesn't expect this to come easily.
“I can imagine there is a much more efficient way to provide some of the things we are doing right now, but I think it will take a little time, as it takes a few years to experience some of the accuracy and quality that is needed.”
Our Business Briefing Newsletter provides key stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinions. Sign up every morning.
