Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) CEO Matt Comyn said on May 26 that artificial intelligence will lead to smaller teams and job losses across the economy, and firms must help employees plan for the future [1, 2]. Comyn said, "Pretending otherwise does not protect workers. It only ensures they are surprised later," and stressed the bank's responsibility by adding, "An employer of our scale has a responsibility to avoid false reassurance and give people the best possible chance to adapt" [1].

CBA employs more than 50,000 people and is Australia's largest lender [1]. Comyn explained that some roles will be performed by smaller teams due to AI integrating into workflows throughout large organizations like CBA [1, 2]. He also said career paths will accelerate for many employees, since AI will allow them to take on more complex work sooner. "This will create opportunities for many people, but it will be demanding for everyone," he noted [2].

The bank is investing heavily in technology, spending about A$2.4 billion annually to build AI-backed services for retail and business customers over the coming months [1, 3]. Comyn said AI is already being used to enhance security, protect customers from fraud and scams, write fraud rules, strengthen system patching, and resolve technical issues more quickly [2].

CBA has invested in Anthropic, the maker of the AI assistant Claude, and maintains business ties with OpenAI, which operates ChatGPT [1, 3]. However, the bank faced pushback last year when it planned to cut about 45 customer service roles due to AI-driven automation. After pressure from the main financial services union, CBA reversed those planned dismissals in 2025 [1, 3].

Comyn acknowledged the difficulties ahead, stating, "Change will not be painless, so it must be handled with care and responsibility" [2]. His comments came just before an industry AI conference and echo similar concerns raised recently by other banking leaders such as Standard Chartered’s CEO Bill Winters, who apologized after backlash over remarks about AI’s impact on lower-value jobs [1, 4].

CBA plans to continue rolling out new AI tools gradually while supporting workforce adaptation to the shifting job landscape [1, 2].