‘Most organisations are not yet reimagining the way in which the work gets done’
Escalating artificial intelligence costs are emerging as a central challenge for large employers, pushing HR leaders to play a larger role in workforce planning, governance and productivity as organisations struggle to justify returns, according to a report.
Executives say what began as low-cost experimentation is quickly becoming a significant and unpredictable expense.
Global corporate AI investment reached ~US$581.7 billion in 2025 (≈130% increase year-on-year); of which private investment was ~US$344.7 billion, according to the Stanford HAI, 2026 AI Index Report.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn warned companies can generate “an enormous amount of volume, noise and waste” through AI, raising questions about value and oversight, The Australian Financial Review reported.
He added that earlier trials carried minimal expense, but “the way the models work… your costs do not scale on a linear basis,” meaning spending rises sharply as use becomes embedded across organisations.
Coles chief executive Leah Weckert said firms are now confronting whether AI delivers sufficient productivity gains, describing the cost-benefit equation as “an emerging issue” as adoption expands, according to the report.
Employees adopt AI faster than organisations can manage it
While costs climb, employee usage continues to accelerate, often ahead of formal corporate strategies, highlighting a growing management challenge for employers.
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.
At the same time, adoption remains largely informal. Around half of users say they introduced AI tools into their work independently, compared with just 25% who were directed to do so by leadership.
Melanie Silva, managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand, said the disconnect limits enterprise value, noting that “individual usage alone won’t deliver the type of organisation-wide transformation that’s possiblem” according to the report.
The Stanford HAI report noted that 88% of surveyed organizations reported using AI in 2025 (up from 78% in 2024 and 55% in 2023); 70% use generative AI in at least one business function. Also, 53% of the population had adopted generative AI within three years (global, fastest adoption of any modern tech).
Productivity gains fail to keep pace
Despite widespread uptake, many companies are not seeing expected productivity improvements at scale, The Australian Financial Review reported.
Peter Tonagh, executive chairman of Quantium, said organisations have yet to redesign work to match new capabilities. “Most organisations are not yet reimagining the way in which the work gets done,” he said, accoridng to the report.
He added that while individuals may become more efficient, gains often fail to translate into team performance. “When we roll these tools out to a team, we’re not seeing those sorts of productivity uplifts,” Tonagh said.
The result, he warned, is operational inefficiency, as companies deploy powerful tools without changing underlying workflows.
Governance gaps widen as risks increase
As adoption accelerates, governance and oversight are emerging as critical concerns for employers managing AI at scale.
Meanwhile, McKinsey's State of AI 2025 and AI Trust Maturity Survey 2026 noted that only about one-third of organizations report governance maturity at level 3+ (of 4), and fewer than half take concrete steps to mitigate even the risks they rank most serious. Separately, a Gartner poll found that 55% have an AI oversight board/committee.
Weckert said organisations are struggling to track where AI is being used and how decisions are made, adding they are “desperate to find… people… that can help us to do really great governance of AI," according to the report.
Silva cautioned against simply layering technology onto existing processes, warning that “bolting AI onto an isolated workflow… runs the risk of creating an expensive white elephant,” The Australian Financial Review reported.
Employees are doing most of their work-related AI tasks through personal accounts that employers cannot easily monitor, creating fresh governance, privacy and offboarding risks for HR professionals, according to new research.
Mental health and over-reliance concerns emerge
Alongside operational and financial challenges, new risks are emerging for employee wellbeing as AI becomes more embedded in work.
Stephanie McNamara, author of Artificial Intelligence Replacement Dysfunction (AIRD), told Canadian HR Reporter that the phenomenon reflects “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 also warned that over-reliance on AI can undermine independent thinking, saying 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, organisations face growing demand for AI capability, with 63% of workers expressing interest in training, underscoring the need for structured workforce planning, according to The Australian Business Review.
Human judgement remains critical to value creation
Business leaders say rising costs and uneven outcomes are reinforcing the importance of human skills alongside AI deployment, according to the report.
Comyn said the technology is increasing the need for judgement and oversight, as workers must distinguish meaningful outputs from irrelevant information.
Research also suggests potential benefits if AI is managed effectively, with 45% of workers saying their roles would be more meaningful if routine tasks were automated
While some sectors could see returns of up to 9.5 times their investment, leaders say capturing that value will depend on aligning spending, governance and workforce design as AI moves deeper into core operations, The Australian Financial Review reported.
AI is reshaping how Canadians think about their careers, a shift HR professionals will need to factor into workforce planning, talent development and retention strategies, according to new research from Borderless AI.
