Hello World
Business, technology & AI briefing
October 2026Issue 01
This issue
AI is not coming to replace your people
New privacy rules for automated decisions start in December, and there is a steady run of AI news. This issue looks at what the research says about AI and jobs, which tasks to change first, and how to bring your people with you.
Published by HELLOPEOPLEAI
Editor's note
From Kasun
I am researching retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) as a PhD candidate at Curtin University. RAG is how businesses connect AI to their own data without training a new model. Nearly twenty years of running HELLO PEOPLE means I spend my time between code and conversations with business owners, and the two do not always match when it comes to what people expect AI to do.
Owners hear two stories. One says AI will run the business for them. The other says it will replace their staff. Neither matches what I see. Most jobs are bundles of tasks, and AI is good at some of those tasks and poor at others. It drafts, sorts, summarises and pulls details out of documents well. It is unreliable when a decision depends on context it cannot see, such as a customer's history, an unwritten rule or a judgement call.
The projects that work start small: one process that happens the same way every week, a person checking the output, and a clear measure of whether it saved time. The ones that disappoint usually start with a tool rather than a task.
This issue follows that thread. The feature looks at what the research says about AI and jobs. The automation table sorts common tasks into what to automate, where AI can assist, and what should stay with people. And from 10 December, businesses covered by the Privacy Act must describe in their privacy policy the kinds of decisions software makes, or substantially and directly helps make, about people, so it is worth knowing where you already use it.
None of this needs a large budget or a data science team. It needs someone who knows how the work is really done and is willing to test one change at a time. If you try the prompt in this issue, I would like to hear what it found.
Signals
AI news this month
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2 December 2025
Australia releases its National AI Plan
- What happened
- The Australian Government released its National AI Plan, with three goals: capture the opportunities, spread the benefits, and keep Australians safe. It funds the set-up of an AI Safety Institute and backs programs to lift AI skills and adoption, including support for small and medium businesses.
- Why it matters
- It sets the government's direction on AI funding, skills and safety, which shapes the programs and guidance that follow.
- What it means for you
- For most businesses nothing changes overnight. It is worth watching for the skills programs and guidance that follow, because they will shape what counts as responsible use of AI.
Source: Department of Industry, Science and Resources: National AI Plan
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10 December 2026
Privacy Act transparency rules for AI decisions start in December
- What happened
- From 10 December 2026, businesses covered by the Privacy Act must say in their privacy policy if they use personal information in a computer program, including AI, that makes decisions, or does something substantially and directly related to making decisions, that could reasonably be expected to significantly affect a person's rights or interests. The policy must describe the kinds of personal information used and the kinds of decisions involved.
- Why it matters
- It is a new Privacy Act obligation written specifically about automated decisions. It covers any computer program, not only AI, and decisions the program makes on its own as well as decisions where it does something substantially and directly related to the outcome.
- What it means for you
- If software or AI makes, or plays a substantial and direct part in, decisions about people, such as approving or refusing a service or changing someone's rights under a contract, your privacy policy will need to say so from 10 December 2026. It is a transparency obligation, not a ban. Most small businesses under the Privacy Act's turnover threshold are not covered, but some are, so check whether yours is. This is general information, not legal advice.
Source: OAIC: New resources on transparency for use of AI and automated decision-making
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17 August 2026
ASIC warns of sharp rise in AI-powered scams
- What happened
- The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) removed more than 19,400 online scams in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, up 182 per cent on the year before. It warns that scammers use generative AI to create deepfake videos of celebrities and politicians, networks of fake websites, fake reviews and fabricated news articles to promote investment scams.
- Why it matters
- AI lowers the cost of making convincing fake content. ASIC removed nearly three times as many scams as the year before, and the same techniques can be aimed at a business and its customers.
- What it means for you
- AI makes scams harder to spot: polished websites, fake reviews and convincing videos. A simple rule helps: confirm any request to change bank details or make an urgent payment by calling a number you already know, not by replying to the message.
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27 October 2026
AI Leadership Summit brings together Australian leaders
- What happened
- CEDA (the Committee for Economic Development of Australia) runs its fourth AI Leadership Summit with the National AI Centre on 27 and 28 October at ICC Sydney, bringing together business, government and researchers to share what is working.
- Why it matters
- It brings business, government and researchers together on how to adopt AI well, rather than whether to adopt it at all.
- What it means for you
- If your business is still deciding whether AI applies, start with one small, measurable task rather than a large program.
Feature
Will AI make your people redundant?
Jobs are not single roles. They are bundles of tasks. AI changes which tasks stay and which go. The opportunity is redeploying people to new work, faster. We look at the research and what it means for your business.
170 million
new jobs are expected to be created worldwide by 2030, while 92 million are displaced. Net growth of 78 million.
Jobs are bundles of tasks, not roles
The World Economic Forum expects the global labour market to create more roles than it displaces by 2030. For a small business the more useful point is that most jobs will not disappear. They will change. Take the office manager in a trades business: they process job sheets, manage calendars and answer customer queries. If job notes are re-keyed into three systems, automation can turn that re-keying into a quick check. The role stays; the task mix changes.
Jobs and Skills Australia's report on generative AI, released in August 2025, found that AI is more likely to augment jobs than replace them. The greatest potential for automation is in routine clerical and administrative work, such as general clerks, receptionists, and accounting clerks and bookkeepers, so these roles are likely to change first.
For most roles, the bigger risk is a widening skills gap between people who learn to work with these tools and people who do not.
Where roles do change
In the World Economic Forum forecast, clerical and secretarial roles such as cashiers and ticket clerks, administrative assistants and executive secretaries are expected to see the largest decline in absolute numbers. Demand for care work, such as nursing and social work, is growing. The transition is not painless, and it is not new.
Training existing staff to work with these tools keeps the knowledge of how your business actually runs, and that knowledge is hard to hire in.
For your own business, the questions are practical: which tasks in your team could be automated, which work could grow because you can handle more, and which skills will matter most in two years?
Three things to do now
First: talk to your people. They have seen the news. Ask them which repetitive tasks fill their week, and listen. Start with the boring tasks, not the skilled ones.
Second: look at the roles you struggle to fill. AI will not fill them on its own, but training the people you have can help. If you cannot find bookkeepers, train someone in bookkeeping. If you cannot find skilled staff, help your team take on more complex work.
Third: set a date to review. Pick one task, test it for a month with a person checking the output, and decide on what you measured rather than on what you read.
- List the five most repetitive tasks in your team. Which ones happen in the same order every time?
- Which of these could AI handle with a person checking the output?
- Which team members do you most want to keep? What could you free them to do instead?
- What skills does your business need that it does not have now?
Practical framework
What can be automated today
AI does not automate jobs. It automates tasks. Below are the tasks in your business that change first: sorted by whether to automate now, use AI to assist, or keep entirely human.
| Automate now | AI assists | Keep human |
|---|---|---|
| Admin and email | ||
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| Sales and marketing | ||
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| Customer service | ||
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| Finance and admin paperwork | ||
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| Operations and field work | ||
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Tool
An AI prompt: find which tasks in your week can be automated or AI-assisted.
Here is how I spend my week: [DESCRIBE YOUR ROLE AND TASKS]. Please list the tasks that are repetitive (happen at least twice), rule-based (same steps every time), or drafting-heavy (you create text that others edit). Then sort them into three groups: automate (a tool can do this completely), AI assists (AI drafts, I decide), and keep human (needs judgment or relationships). Keep it under 200 words and use simple language.
Tip. Check the output for accuracy. Ask: would a tool reliably do this the same way every time? Does it need my judgment? Do not paste customer or financial data. Use your own descriptions and test this with your team.
Myth and reality
Myths, busted
| The myth | The reality |
|---|---|
| AI will replace my staff. | For most roles, AI changes tasks rather than removing the job. A business with a bookkeeper might automate invoice entry, but still needs someone to manage client relationships and handle exceptions. Source: Jobs and Skills Australia: Our Gen AI Transition report |
| AI is only for big companies. | More than four in ten Australian small and medium businesses already use AI in some form. In the National AI Centre's survey, 43 per cent reported some level of AI adoption from December 2025 to February 2026, rising to 44 per cent in February. Health and education, and services, lead, with more than half of businesses in those sectors using AI. Source: National AI Centre: AI adoption insights, December 2025 to February 2026 |
| ChatGPT already knows my business. | ChatGPT learns from training data up to a cut-off date and can search the public web. It does not know your customer list, pricing, workflows or contracts unless you give it access, and giving it access raises its own privacy questions. |
| AI is too risky to touch. | The risks are real, such as customer data entered into public AI tools and deepfake scams. They can be reduced with clear rules about which data goes into which tool, and with staff training. |
| You need a data scientist to use AI. | Business owners and managers can use ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude to draft emails, analyse data, and test ideas today. You need a person who understands your business and is willing to learn. |
People often overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.
Puzzle
The AI word scramble
Unscramble four words every business owner will hear this year.
- TPMORP What you type to tell an AI what you want
- LEDMO The trained engine behind a chat assistant
- TEAMAUTO Let software do the repetitive step for you
- TNEGA Software that takes actions for you, not just answers
No prizes, just bragging rights. Reply to this email with your answers if you want to show off.
From HELLO PEOPLE
Related reading and help
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Blog post
Is MCP Secure for Business Applications?
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to business systems. We explain how its security works, what it means for your data, and where it fits.
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Service guide
A structured way to plan AI in your business: assess readiness, choose the first opportunities, and build a realistic roadmap.
Sources and method
Sources
Every news item, statistic and claim in this issue was checked against these sources.
- Federal Register of Legislation: Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 legislation.gov.au
- OAIC: New resources on transparency for use of AI and automated decision-making oaic.gov.au
- OAIC: Small business and the Privacy Act oaic.gov.au
- Department of Industry, Science and Resources: National AI Plan industry.gov.au
- Minister for Industry and Innovation: National AI Plan media release minister.industry.gov.au
- ASIC: 26-195MR ASIC warns scammers are using AI to spin vast webs of deception asic.gov.au
- Jobs and Skills Australia: Our Gen AI Transition jobsandskills.gov.au
- National AI Centre: AI adoption insights, December 2025 to February 2026 ai.gov.au
- National AI Centre: AI Leadership Summit 2026 ai.gov.au
- World Economic Forum: Future of Jobs Report 2025 reports.weforum.org
- OpenAI Help Center: Does ChatGPT tell the truth? help.openai.com
- Quote Investigator: the origin of the overestimate and underestimate quote quoteinvestigator.com
- Corrs Chambers Westgarth: preparing for the automated decision-making transparency obligation (further reading) corrs.com.au
Have a workflow you think could be automated? Talk to us.
We are happy to talk it through and tell you honestly whether it is worth doing.