RBA governor weighs in on tech's impact as central bank deploys AI chatbot for employees
The Reserve Bank of Australia said it is monitoring the impact of technology in workplaces after its recent poll found that a large share of businesses are planning to invest in artificial intelligence in the future.
The RBA recently polled businesses in its liaison programme on technology adoption and found that more than 20% of firms have invested in AI and machine learning.
A bigger 80% also said they are expected to invest in these technologies in the next three years.
RBA Governor Michele Bullock said the findings indicate that AI and robotics are emerging as an increasing focus for firms' forward investment plans.
"As policymakers, we are closely monitoring the impact of technological change on the economy," she said in a speech during the 60th Shann Memorial Lecture in Perth.
According to the governor, firms are mainly expecting these tools to augment labour, automate repetitive tasks, and redesign the composition of roles.
But firms also indicated that it may be "too early" to fully understand the impact of AI on the workforce.
"Firms thought they may initially see an increase in their headcount as they design and embed new technologies, though this may be followed by a small decline as they mature in their adoption of new technologies," she said.
"Lower-skilled roles may decline, while demand for higher-skilled roles is expected to grow, continuing (and perhaps even fast-tracking) a decades-long trend away from routine manual work."
Bullock said Australia needs to be open to different possible outcomes that could stem from AI.
"What might these shifts mean for productivity, potential growth and inflation dynamics? Could they alter the labour market or expand the economy's supply capacity without generating inflationary pressure? How will investment in their enabling capital, such as data centres and energy infrastructure, spillover to the economy?"
"These are open questions, and we need to be alert to different possible impacts."
RBA's AI chatbot
Bullock made the remarks as she revealed that the RBA has designed and started testing a new AI-powered tool for its employees.
The tool, RBAPubChat, is a smart chatbot that helps staff ask policy-relevant analytical questions and get summaries of the organisation's four-decade-old knowledge base.
"RBAPubChat draws on nearly 20,000 internal and external RBA analytical documents," Bullock said. "It is more than a search tool."
According to the RBA governor, the smart chatbot supports reviews of past work, provides context for new analysis, and constructively challenges existing insights.
"Importantly, this tool does not replace expert human judgement, rather it enhances it," she said. "It helps our analysts get to the heart of what businesses are saying, faster, and more effectively."
Bullock stressed that technology alone does not drive value, but how organisations integrate it in their systems and manage its risks.
"That is why we are fostering a culture of innovation at the RBA: encouraging experimentation, learning from failure, and engaging more openly with external partners to bring in diverse perspectives and challenge our thinking," she said.
