‘Most organisations are not yet reimagining the way in which the work gets done’
Rapid adoption of artificial intelligence tools is reshaping workplaces and putting pressure on HR leaders to manage skills, governance and workforce strategy, as employees embrace the technology faster than organisations can formalize its use.
Research cited by The Australian Financial Review shows that 71% of Australian AI users now rely on the technology "to assist with their jobs or to help them learn something new and complex.”
However, uptake is largely employee-driven. Half of users report adopting AI independently, compared with just 25% encouraged by leadership.
Melanie Silva, managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand, said this gap risks limiting impact, warning that “individual usage alone won’t deliver the type of organisation-wide transformation that’s possible.”
Productivity gains remain uneven
Despite widespread experimentation, companies are struggling to translate usage into measurable productivity improvements.
Peter Tonagh, executive chairman of Quantium, said organisations are deploying tools without redesigning workflows. “Most organisations are not yet reimagining the way in which the work gets done,” he said.
As a result, gains at the individual level are not scaling. “When we roll these tools out to a team, we’re not seeing those sorts of productivity uplifts,” Tonagh said.
He cautioned that failing to coordinate change can lead to inefficiencies, likening it to introducing powerful machinery without changing how teams operate.
Rising costs reshape AI strategies
At the same time, companies are confronting escalating costs as AI use expands across organisations.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn said AI can generate “an enormous amount of volume, noise and waste,” requiring careful oversight to ensure value.
He added that earlier experimentation was relatively inexpensive, but “the way the models work… your costs do not scale on a linear basis,” increasing financial pressure as adoption grows.
Coles chief executive Leah Weckert described the cost-benefit balance as “an emerging issue” as AI becomes embedded across business operations.
Governance and skills challenges intensify
Executives say governance is becoming a central concern, particularly as organisations struggle to track usage and ensure compliance.
Weckert said companies are seeking expertise to oversee deployments, noting they are “desperate to find… people… that can help us to do really great governance of AI.”
Silva warned that simply adding AI to existing processes risks inefficiency, saying “bolting AI onto an isolated workflow… runs the risk of creating an expensive white elephant.”
Stephanie McNamara, author of Artificial Intelligence Replacement Dysfunction (AIRD), said the psychological risks of AI adoption are already emerging, defining the phenomenon as “a proposed clinical construct that outlines the psychological distress and negative mental health effects that… workers are going to be faced with when faced with a threat or reality of AI-induced job displacement.”
She added that clear organisational guardrails are critical, particularly as over-reliance increases, warning that risk emerges “when AI shifts from being just a tool to help workers do their job… to being a substitute for independent thinking.”
At the same time, demand for skills is rising, with 63% of workers expressing interest in AI training.
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Human judgement becomes more critical
As AI adoption accelerates, executives say human skills are becoming more—not less—important.
Comyn said the technology increases the value of judgement, as workers must separate useful insights from low-quality output.
Research also suggests the potential for improved job design, with 45% of workers saying their roles would be more meaningful if routine tasks were automated.
Despite continued investment and potential returns of up to 9.5 times in some sectors, leaders say success will depend on aligning technology with workforce strategy and organisational design.
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