35k co-pilots: Westpac CEO hopes AI will build a more ambitious Australia

Marina Karpathios
03:15pm April 28 2026

Westpac CEO Anthony Miller (left) shared his insights on AI’s role in transforming banking on a panel at Microsoft’s 2026 AI Tour at ICC Sydney last week. 

Westpac has given all 35,000 employees access to Microsoft Copilot, a move CEO Anthony Miller frames as a bet on people rather than software.

 

Speaking on a Microsoft panel in Sydney last week, Miller said the case for AI was simple. “It should help people do their job better, faster, more safely and more consistently.”

 

For a regulated bank, Miller argues the balance is clear. “A banking licence is a privilege. We have to meet a high standard.”

 

He sees AI as a chance to challenge habits that no longer serve customers or staff. “There’s a real culture of ‘that’s the way we do it’. The tool gives you permission to think about doing things differently.”

 

Miller was candid about the cultural challenge of rewarding people for openness over certainty. “Someone has a better idea than you or a better way of doing things is not a way people have classically been rewarded,” he said. 

 

This is why Westpac’s approach to AI has been to go broad, “We’ve given every single member of the organisation the tool,” Miller said. “Every single member of the company, 35,000 employees, is challenged, encouraged and motivated to try and experiment and learn.” 

 

At that scale, a technology rollout becomes a live workplace experiment. Small gains, repeated across thousands of roles, can translate into quicker answers, clearer information and more consistent service for customers.

 

Miller places AI within a wider national challenge. Productivity gains, he said, only come when technology is widely used. 

 

“It only drives productivity when it’s diffused right across the community and right across society,” he said, likening AI’s rapid uptake to past breakthroughs such as electricity. 

 

He also pushed back on what he sees as an overly pessimistic national mood. “The current discourse publicly is so negative... there are opportunities this country has today which are extraordinary.”

 

He calls for a more confident approach, backed by action from business, government and regulators. 

 

AI, Miller said, is not a cure-all. But used well, and used widely, it has a key role in building a more ambitious Australia.

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