AFR AI Forum
- Can I begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land where we are meeting.
- And pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.
- I’d also like to acknowledge Cosima, and congratulate her on her recent appointment as Editor in Chief of the AFR.
- Thank you to the AFR for having me here, at the AI Forum.
- In April, I spoke to the AFR’s Workforce Summit about the importance of maintaining trust between workers and employers as AI is introduced into Australian workplaces, as well as ensuring the benefits of AI are shared.
- Those principles have only become more important as more organisations begin working through what AI adoption actually means for their workplace.
- Because AI is already impacting workplaces in many different ways.
- Whether it’s redesigning individual tasks, reshaping entire roles, or fundamentally changing how work is organised.
- Whatever the scale of change, organisations need to be able to manage that change effectively.
- Because at its core, AI adoption is a process of workplace transformation, not a technology rollout.
- And that means consideration of what AI means for the workforce must be central to the AI adoption process.
- Because as you will all know, simply purchasing an AI tool doesn’t automatically mean that companies will get the benefits of AI.
- Whether a business achieves those benefits will depend on how their workforce adopts AI.
- If the adoption of AI is done well, with a focus on people rather than technology procurement, organisations are far more likely to achieve meaningful productivity gains.
- Some leading organisations, including some in the room today, are taking that approach by working closely with employees to identify where AI can genuinely add value.
- They are assessing workflows task by task and planning together how AI can support work, before deploying AI.
- For example, some employers have worked with their frontline staff to identify repetitive or time-consuming tasks.
- And then looked at how AI can reduce that burden, by improving efficiencies.
- This kind of collaboration – where workforce input shapes how technology is adopted – is much more likely to deliver productivity gains and better business outcomes.
- As well as delivering benefits for workers, like more time to spend on the parts of the job that they enjoy, or better job satisfaction.
- Research out of MIT shows that AI solutions are significantly more likely to be effective when workers who are closest to the issue have direct input into how that technology is shaped and deployed.
- I heard one case study from Blackmores Group, who worked together with their employees to identify issues and explore how AI could improve their business processes.
- Through that collaboration, they were able to develop an AI prototype that significantly reduced manual data entry, turning a 3-day process into a 10-minute task.
- That’s a huge productivity dividend for the business.
- But it also represents direct benefits for the employees involved, who are now able to focus much more of their time on higher-value work.
- However, when organisations treat AI adoption as a technology project rather than a workplace transformation in partnership with their workers, the full productivity gains are unlikely to materialise.
- Which means organisations are spending money on technology without actually solving problems.
- For example, a customer service assistant at a major corporation recently told me their employer took a ‘bolt on’ approach to AI adoption.
- They simply told the workforce they needed to start using a particular AI tool.
- But because there had been minimal engagement on what problems this tool was actually trying to solve, the tool didn’t noticeably improve her job or her productivity.
- Instead, it just created more work for her and her colleagues.
- As a result, most of her workmates gave up using the AI tool to help them with their work.
- By any measure, that is not delivering a good return on the business’s investment or job satisfaction for those workers.
- These examples clearly show that genuine collaboration and consultation with a workforce – before the technology is deployed – can deliver substantially better outcomes for both businesses and workers.
- Collaboration doesn’t only help organisations get the process of adoption right.
- But is also critical to building trust with your workforce.
- And trust is critical if you want workers to embrace this technology.
- Along with ensuring the benefits that come with AI are shared with workers.
- I’ve spoken to many workers who have told me that they are willing to adopt AI at work where they can see that it will improve their working life.
- But that willingness cannot be taken for granted.
- Because workers will want to – and deserve to – understand what the adoption of AI means for them.
- Will they receive support and opportunities to build new skills?
- Will their knowledge and expertise still be valued?
- Will they share in the benefits being created?
- Without answers to these questions, workers will naturally lose trust in the process and become reluctant to engage with new technologies.
- As Nine Entertainment Chair Peter Tonagh said to me recently: “Fear may get you compliance, but it will never get you reinvention.”
- Because ultimately, the benefits of AI will be won or lost through the workforce’s embrace of the technology and how confident they are in using it.
- And if organisations want workers to trust and genuinely embrace AI adoption, there must be a clear value proposition for workers, alongside a value proposition for the business.
- Whether that’s removing the drudgery of repetitive tasks, making better use of a worker’s skills or offering them opportunities to build capability.
- Of course, while current research indicates that AI is much more likely to augment roles rather than automate them in the medium term, we understand some roles may be automated.
- And where AI adoption does lead to automation, businesses should look at how they can continue to make the most of their existing workers’ skills and experience, so they can continue to add value to the company.
- Which, in turn, helps build trust across the broader workforce in the process of AI adoption.
- One executive put to me what I think is a critical question that organisations should be asking themselves when adopting AI: “These are the people who know our product, so how can we make the most of their expertise?”
- That is why organisations need a clear plan that gives workers confidence that they will be supported to move into new roles or take on additional tasks within their existing role.
- One organisation who is giving this issue careful consideration is Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
- Rather than waiting for change to happen, they are proactively planning for potential reorganisation within their workforce, by investing in workers whose roles may be impacted by change in the future.
- Workers’ existing roles are mapped against core tasks and skills, equipping workers with a full understanding of their current capabilities.
- And Commonwealth Bank then provides a pathway for these workers to develop skills so that they can easily move into areas of growing job demand within the company, in the event their role changes.
- That is good for workers, because it provides them with certainty and confidence that they can continue to contribute to the company if their role is impacted by AI – while at the same time being committed to their current role.
- But it is also good for the bank, because it retains valuable capability and experience that might otherwise be lost.
- While not all businesses will do this in the same way, this example highlights the value of companies engaging in proactive workforce planning, together with their staff.
- So far, I’ve talked about what successful AI adoption looks like within individual organisations.
- But if Australia is to capture the full economic potential of AI, we need to see that success replicated across the economy.
- However, many workers remain anxious about what AI could mean for their jobs, and the community’s trust in AI remains low.
- And this could lead to resistance from workers to embracing AI, holding back both innovation in the workplace and business productivity.
- If AI is adopted in ways that increase uncertainty or undermine confidence, it risks slowing the broader adoption and limiting the benefits this technology can deliver.
- That is why Government has an important role to play.
- As the Prime Minister has said, our Government is committed to ensuring AI works and delivers for people – not the other way around.
- And of course, Government is uniquely placed to bring together employers, workers, their unions and experts to navigate these challenges and build a common understanding of what good looks like.
- As Minister, one of the ways I am doing that is through the tripartite AI Employment and Workplaces Forum, which I chair.
- And through direct engagement with businesses and workers who are in the process of adopting AI in their workplace.
- These discussions point to a clear need for practical guidance on how businesses can adopt AI in a way that builds trust and delivers shared benefits with their workforce.
- That’s why today, I am pleased to announce that our Government is launching public consultation on Australian-first best practice guidance to adopting AI in workplaces, with an explicit focus on how to build trust and confidence with your workforce.
- This draft Best Practice Guide for AI Adoption means for the first time, businesses have a practical roadmap on how to make the most of their AI investment in partnership with their workers.
- Of course, I know there is plenty of advice out there already on technical implementation and governance frameworks for AI, including the National AI Centre’s guidance for AI adoption.
- But this best practice guidance addresses a different challenge.
- At its core, it is a how-to guide for organisations to get the best outcomes from AI by considering the important role their workforce plays in the AI adoption process.
- It also accounts for the dynamic nature of AI adoption, compared to traditional change management exercises.
- Because we know that the rapid developments in AI technology and its uptake mean that workplace transformation will be an ongoing, iterative process.
- And importantly, this draft guidance has been informed through extensive consultation with members of the tripartite AI Employment and Workplaces Forum, alongside employers, workers and their unions, government and experts.
- We will continue to work with Forum members, alongside broader public consultation, to ensure that this draft guidance is fit for purpose for as many Australian workplaces as possible.
- This guidance is based on three key pillars.
- The first pillar is planning – establishing a clear understanding of what the organisation is trying to achieve.
- As I have said, businesses should work together where possible with their workforce to identify where AI can genuinely add value.
- That could mean co-design with workers to identify the pain points in their job, and designing solutions that address them.
- Or where that is not possible, it could mean genuine consultation with workers about how AI is introduced and used, drawing on their expertise to ensure it is effective and delivers shared benefits.
- At Brisbane Catholic Education, for example, staff were engaged through a range of pilots, consultation and training programs to identify how AI could best support staff.
- The results of that engagement informed the design of Brisbane Catholic Education’s implementation approach.
- And an independent evaluation found that more than 70 per cent of educators are saving between 3 to 9 hours per week on administration.
- That means educators can spend more time where they make the biggest difference, working directly with students and focusing on the parts of the job that drew them to teaching in the first place.
- After the use case has been established, the second pillar in our best practice guidance is enabling workplaces to effectively deploy AI.
- And what’s critical to that implementation is building capability.
- Obviously, workers and managers need the confidence and skills to work effectively with AI.
- But just as importantly, leaders and executives need the capability to successfully develop and deliver organisational change.
- Food Ladder is a great example of how building capability across an organisation can deliver successful outcomes.
- The entire team at Food Ladder completed an AI fluency sprint, giving them a shared understanding of what AI can – and cannot – do.
- That capability boost – helped the organisation identify practical ways that AI could reduce administrative workloads, and scale its program to reach a much wider audience.
- The third pillar in the best practice guidance is embedding.
- Because successful adoption of artificial intelligence is not set-and-forget.
- It requires ongoing trust and ongoing consultation.
- Workers need confidence that AI systems are being implemented safely and responsibly, with potential risks identified and addressed early on.
- Those risks might include intrusive surveillance, inappropriate performance monitoring or unreasonable work intensification.
- Addressing these issues early, in consultation with workers, helps build trust, and supports the sustainable adoption of AI over time.
- And drawing on those workers’ insights will lead to continuous improvement, and avoid unintended consequences.
- The key strength of this best practice guidance is that its principles can be applied across workplaces and industries.
- While the way they are implemented will obviously vary, depending on an organisation’s size and complexity, the principles themselves are designed to be universally applicable.
- This draft has been based on approaches and case studies from Australian businesses and unions who are at the forefront of AI adoption.
- And as I said, it has been shaped through extensive tripartite consultation.
- But of course, while we’ve worked hard to ensure it is designed for a broad spectrum of Australian businesses, we want to ensure that it is fit for purpose.
- And that’s why today I am releasing this draft for public consultation.
- Anyone who wants to provide feedback can do so through my Department’s website, with consultation open until 27 January.
- I’d like to finish with this.
- AI has the capacity to create new opportunities to work differently and more effectively.
- But those benefits are not automatic.
- They will only be realised through successful AI adoption, in genuine collaboration and consultation with workers where they can see the benefits.
- The organisations that make the most of what AI can deliver will be the ones that understand AI adoption is fundamentally about workplace change.
- They will have a clear plan.
- And they will bring their employees with them every step of the way.
- This best practice guidance will provide practical support for employers and workers, helping more workplaces adopt AI in a way that builds trust, shares the benefits and delivers lasting productivity gains.
- Thank you.