Lawyer reveals Australian office workers are now losing their jobs to AI weeklyThere are mounting fears over what the AI revolution will mean for Aussies, with experts revealing soaring cases of workers losing their jobs.Heath Parkes-Hupton@heath_parkes5 min readMay 10, 2026 - 5:56PMAustralian employment lawyers are dealing with cases involving white collar workers being replaced by artificial intelligence weekly, as new research shows one in three people now wish they chose different careers.It raises questions over how prepared Australia really is for what Independent Senator David Pocock has called a “freight train” coming to disrupt workplaces across the country.Employment law specialist Roxanne Hart told news.com.au that it was now “fairly common” for her to take on cases involving office workers being made redundant due to AI.“The biggest impact that I’ve seen is through white collar redundancies,” she said.“People who are in the copywriting, coding, data analytics (and the) administration realm, because a lot of those duties are now being replicated by AI to some extent.“It’s fairly common now. Whereas two years ago it certainly wasn’t even a thing that we were thinking about.“We’d probably do redundancies every week in this space.”Meanwhile, the Real Jobs of the Future report, compiled by Real Insurance, revealed that while half of Australians have not yet felt AI’s impact, 32 per cent would have chosen a different career if they had known how widespread it would become.About 40 per cent of respondents said they did not feel prepared for major changes, a sign of the anxiety now gripping white collar workers in Australia who fear a shift to automation.Senator David Pocock was critical of the government’s ‘light touch’ approach to AI. Picture: SuppliedMs Hart said although Australia had some insulation due to high numbers of physical jobs, she did not think the country was “ready at all” for a major shift. Mr Pocock believes a greater focus on the technology was needed among his colleagues in Canberra, saying thousands of jobs had already been lost to AI and many more were at risk while the government took a “light touch” to “regulation of a technology that will fundamentally change our lives”.“Artificial intelligence does offer real benefits to how we live our lives but it also poses huge risks – not just to employment, but the environment and even our cognitive functioning,” he told news.com.au.“Increasingly artificial intelligence permeates all aspects of our lives and we need an overarching regulatory framework that allows us to effectively mitigate its risks rather than the current piecemeal approach or ‘voluntary expectations’ as we’ve seen with data centres.”It comes after an appearance this week on the Equity Mates podcast, in which Mr Pocock accused the government of taking a “let it rip” approach toward a “freight train that’s coming at us at pace”.He agreed with the proposition that AI driving unemployment to 10 per cent was “not out of the question” if advancements in the technology moved too fast.The ACT Senator told news.com.au he had supported a National Artificial Intelligence Act, something the government has chosen not to proceed with. It has instead imposed “expectations” on the industry.Mr Pocock has questioned how effective voluntary standards would be in regulating the tech giants and safeguarding Australians.He was “concerned there is a high level of vested interest influence over artificial intelligence policy … and the interests of major multinational tech companies are currently being put ahead of our communities”.Job loss trends in the US have already begun to emerge. Picture: SuppliedAs reported by news.com.au last week, data showed white collar work in the US dropped in 2025 with major staff cuts conducted by some of the world’s biggest companies.Clinton Free, a professor at the University of Sydney Business School, said Australia may have made its workforce “unwittingly susceptible” to automation due to the rise in office jobs and reduction in industries like manufacturing.The federal government’s Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Tim Ayres has been bullish on the potential for AI to boost productivity and living standards.A spokesperson for Mr Ayres said the government’s National AI Plan was “focused on making sure Australia can capture the opportunities and spread the benefits of AI while keeping Australians safe”. Last year, the government moved to establish the AI Safety Institute to track developments in AI and how best to respond to them.“As a Labor Government, secure and ongoing work sits at the heart of how we approach AI – shaping this technology, so it strengthens jobs, wages and communities,” the spokesperson said.Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Senator Tim Ayres. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman.“We know AI can boost productivity and provide opportunities for workers – but those benefits depend on supporting AI and digital skills uplift and meaningful consultation with workers on how AI is used in the workforce. “Early data from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations indicates AI platforms have not yet produced a higher rate of change in the shape of Australia’s workforce – but these are observations, not predictions.”The government in March released a set of “expectations” it had for data centres and AI infrastructure, which included five main principles.Those were: it prioritise Australia’s national interest, support Australia’s energy transition, use water sustainably and responsibly, invest in Australian skills and jobs and strengthen research, innovation and local capability.The government has been building the capability to track shifts in the labour market since ChatGPT launched in late 2022, focusing on entry-level roles and workforce composition. Early analysis appears to show the rate of change has not been faster than usual.A spokesperon for Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said one of the government’s “key priorities is that AI should be harnessed to create good jobs, not threaten them”.“The Australian government is taking early action to build a workforce that can thrive in an AI-enabled economy,” they said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella announced a $25 billion investment in new digital infrastructure. Picture: SuppliedIn the past six weeks, tech giant Microsoft announced a $25 billion investment in AI infrastructure and skills, and competitor Anthropic signed a memorandum with the government to work towards its AI plan.Ms Hart said she expected unions to start demanding carve outs that prevent employees being replaced with AI, or else ensuring workers receive higher redundancies in that instance, as part of upcoming enterprise agreement negotiations.She noted the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance last year struck a deal with Private Media, publisher of news site Crikey, stating AI would not replace human workers.More CoverageChina’s AI ‘inflection point’ rocks worldLuna Lin – AFPJobs disaster quietly heading for AustraliaHeath Parkes-Hupton“In some ways, we’ve sort of led the world in our industrial relations and employment protections,” Ms Hart said.“But in other ways we’ve adopted … a wait-and-see approach. And I expect that’s what will happen. “And I think we’re probably lagging behind the US in AI … so that will provide us with a good opportunity to see what are the widespread impacts of that.”Read related topics:EmploymentJoin the conversationAdd your comment to this storyTo join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? RegisterJoin the conversation, you are commenting as LogoutMore related storiesMilitaryPutin’s threat at high-risk public appearanceA combative address from Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a high-stakes public outing has thrown more fuel on the tense global environment.Read moreMilitaryOld tactic stuns, changes war foreverUkrainians are fighting tooth and nail to repel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of their homeland. And it’s working.Read moreCareersJobs disaster quietly heading for AustraliaThis revolution has already seen hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the United States, and some Aussie roles are now showing worrying signs.Read more