The Commonwealth Bank has been criticised for integrating artificial intelligence into its systems, with one union leader calling the move “disrespectful and inconvenient”.
The bank is currently trialling a ChatGPT-like platform, known as Hey CommBank, with employees who are also customers.
The platform helps customers with their questions, but the move raises concerns that local call center staff could be replaced. Australian Financial Overview reported.
Daily Mail Australia has learned the bank has no plans to replace its call centre staff.
Commonwealth Bank is also using AI to monitor conversations, replacing the old method of recording conversations, allowing employees to listen in and provide training.
Nicole McPherson, deputy secretary of the financial services union, claimed the plans came from Australia’s largest financial institution.
“Once again, AI is being introduced into the workplace without consultation with employees or customers,” she said.
A CBA spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the bank has a “consistent track record of investing in technology and our people”.
The Commonwealth Bank has come under fire for integrating artificial intelligence into its systems, with a union leader calling the move “disrespectful and inconvenient” (stock image)
“We are using AI as a complementary technology to support time-consuming, manual tasks, so we can free up our people to help our customers with more complex needs,” he said.
‘Combining the expertise of our people and AI tools delivers better service outcomes for our customers, while improving the skills and responsiveness of the people who serve them.
“We value our people and continue to invest in them. We want to discuss in advance any future changes that may affect them.”
The bank is the first company to have a ‘KI ‘factory’, implemented in partnership with Amazon Web Services.
Andrew McMullan, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at CBA, said customers would “become so familiar with ChatGPT-style services that they would engage with the bank through our digital channels as well”.
“We try to understand what engagement looks like, how agents interact with customers and make sure we do it in a very responsible manner,” Dr. McMullan said.
He said the bank is implementing “safeguards” to ensure customers are protected.
Dr McMullan indicated that customers can use Hey CommBank, for example, to calculate the amount of savings required to purchase a property in a particular postcode.
He said that customers would get answers in a ChatGPT-style conversation.
CBA has already implemented AI, testing Microsoft’s generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbot, Copilot, with employees using the bot to summarize text and market research, among other things.
AI is used within CBA’s internal service desks to solve IT problems.
The bank also uses AI to monitor, rather than record, the 50,000 daily customer calls to its local call centers.
Dr McMullan said AI can provide a transcript of a customer conversation in 1.2 seconds and assess whether the caller had a satisfactory experience with the bank.
CBA currently employs over 2,400 call center agents who communicate with customers via instant messaging and telephone.