Whether you are currently employed or looking for work, AI is impossible to avoid in the Australian workforce.

From adoption in daily tasks to its inclusion in required skills on job applications, there are few parts of the job market that remain untouched by this latest technological development.

As legislation struggles to keep up with the rapid advancements of these types of technology, Australian workers are rightfully nervous about the impact on their ability to find and retain work.

While the statistics currently present a labour market that remains resilient with high participation (~66.7–66.8%) and a low, stable unemployment rate of 4.1%–4.3%, employment growth is slowing compared to previous years. And forecasters are warning that the fallout from the Iran war is coming, with that 4.3 unemployment rate projected to rise to 5% – leaving an extra 120,000 Australians looking for work during a period of slowing growth and increasing inflation.

In a report released by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in November 2025, which surveyed 100 medium–large firms from a range of industries, found that roughly 4% of jobs are highly exposed to automation through AI, with 21% looking at medium–high exposure. However, that number climbs to 90% for AI augmentation.

An EY study from August 2025 states that while most Australian workers (68%) are now using AI, half (54%) admit to not feeling confident in its application to their role, with two-thirds of workers (66%) saying they want their employer to provide more formal training.

In terms of how AI is currently used in the Australian workforce, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources has an AI adoption tracker that has revealed that the top three uses for AI currently in SMEs are data entry and document processing (27%), generative AI assistants (27%) and fraud detection (26%).

In the 2024 report, the Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence received 245 submissions from organisations Australia-wide about the impact of AI, including its effect on industry, business and workers.

One of those submissions came from Joseph Mitchell, the Assistant Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), who argued that the adoption of AI would be positive or negative, depending on the ‘choices that are made about how AI is regulated and the terms upon which it is adopted’ in workplaces.

“AI will create new power dynamics in Australia and exaggerate existing ones in ways that could lead to worse outcomes if left unmitigated. It will create new challenges for workers, employers and policymakers to overcome. Some of those newly expressed power dynamics are playing out right now,” wrote Mitchell.

His submission went on to add that AI will likely affect almost every industry, not only through potential job losses due to automation but also, for example, through the potential use of AI for workforce management and planning.

For workers like Lisa Seeger, this is already playing out in their ability to find work. In an article for ABC News, Ms Seeger stated that she believed that AI was a major proponent in her struggle to find work, with prospective employers using it to weed out applicants without the relevant experience.

“We need to remember that sometimes how someone presents on paper isn’t actually who they are in person,” Seeger told ABC.

Deakin Law School backed up this claim, stating in the select committee report that AI is already widely used to automate recruitment, staff layoffs, rostering and surveillance of staff activity.

So, who is likely to be the most affected by the slow creep of AI automation into Australian jobs?

The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSUA) commented that the potential for job losses will most likely disproportionately impact certain types of jobs and vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, writing:

“It is…clear that certain categories of jobs are far more susceptible to impacts from AI. These tend to be roles with relatively lower education and training requirements. This means that the impacts of AI may be disproportionately felt by people with particular education and experience levels, who may find it more difficult to obtain other employment. There is also a risk that these impacts will be felt more by people of lower socioeconomic groups, worsening inequality.”

In an article in the Australian, around 8% of businesses reported using AI to replace staff, while some sectors, like arts/recreation show a higher impact (33%).

Chelsea Bonner, CEO/ Founder ICON Management, argues that the creative industries, such as fashion media and the arts are ‘particularly vulnerable to disruption’ by AI companies. She states that the fallout from this will dispraportionately effect women.

She writes, “…these sectors employ a significant percentage of female workers in roles that are now at risk of being automated. For instance, modelling, content creation, and administrative roles within these industries could see high displacement rates…”

“The replacement of human models, performing artists and sex workers with AI-generated alternatives lead to job losses, disproportionately affecting women’s employment and thereby their financial stability…The introduction of AI in these sectors will exacerbate these issues by reducing the demand for human talent, thus further suppressing wages and job security for women,” writes Bonner.

The Australian Society of Authors (ASA), goes further, and argues that the use of AI will impact cultural output in the years to come.

“AI-content is cheap to make since no compensation need be paid to writers or artists. An increase in AI-generated books and articles will make the challenges of discoverability and dilution of audiences even tougher for professional writers. An abundance of cheap AI-generated content will lead to a consumer expectation about how much books should cost, putting downward pressure on the cost of human-created content. The richness and diversity of Australian literature is at risk.”

However, other organisations remain cautiously optimistic on the financial impact of AI, with a submission from the Productivity Commission (PC) putting the productiuvity gains in the hundreds of billions for the country.

“The contribution AI could make to the Australian economy is likely to be sizeable…[While it] is difficult to make a robust forward-looking estimate of the productivity gains on offer from AI as trends in uptake are still forming and AI technologies are rapidly evolving…[one] estimate suggested generative AI could add up to $115 billion in productivity gains to the Australian economy by 2030 (a 5% uplift in [gross domestic product (GDP)].”

Ultimately, the rise of AI in Australia’s workforce is neither an outright threat nor a guaranteed benefit—it is a turning point that will be defined by how businesses, policymakers, and workers respond. While the technology promises significant productivity gains and new opportunities, it also raises critical questions about job security, inequality, and the future of human work.

Making sure that AI serves as a tool for augmentation rather than displacement will require thoughtful regulation, investment in training, and a commitment to protecting workers’ rights. If these challenges are met head-on, AI has the capacity to advance rather than erode Australia’s labour market.

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