CEOs in Australia don't think Gen AI will cause job cuts — KPMG report

Chief executive officers in Australia don't think generative AI will impact staff levels in their businesses, but it has made them take a second look at their employees' skills.

This is according to a new global report from KPMG, which included respondents in Australia, on various labour trends impacting the world.

It found that 72% of Australian CEOs do not believe Gen AI will have an impact on staff levels.

"I am encouraged to see that business leaders do not view it as a threat to their employees, but on the contrary, as a driver of job productivity," said KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates in a statement.

However, 69% of the CEOs said Gen AI made them look at what skills their entry-level staff needed. Another 50% said they also had to rethink how they train and develop employees after trying to integrate the technology in their organisation.

These thoughts come as only 40% of Australian CEOs believe their employees have the skills to leverage the benefits of Gen AI.

Yates called the situation a positive development: "[Gen AI] is clearly also going to encourage them to take a fresh look at staff training and development."

The findings highlight how Australian leaders perceive the impact of Gen AI on the workforce, as its emergence has triggered widespread job security concerns for employees.

Gen AI remains a top investment

Meanwhile, 58% of CEOs said Gen AI remains a top investment priority for their business, even though 60% are not expecting a return on their AI investment for another three to five years.

"I am not surprised to see Gen AI viewed as a top investment priority for CEOs, given its potential to transform business processes. At KPMG, we are also investing heavily in this area," Yates said.

The biggest challenge cited by 52% of Australian CEOs on AI is ethical. Others said it was related to technical capability and skills required to implement AI; lack of regulation; the cost of implementation; and security.

"Lack of regulation was seen as a challenge to AI adoption by half of CEOs – so we welcome the federal government's new Voluntary AI Safety Standard as an important step in building safe and ethical AI practices and the proposal for mandatory guardrails to be introduced for high-risk AI applications," Yates said.

The new Voluntary AI Safety Standard, introduced this month by the Australian government, provides guidance for businesses on how to safely implement and utilise high-risk AI.