Software-services leader IBM has paused hiring for any jobs that the company thinks may be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) in the next several years.
Key Details
- IBM CEO Arvind Krishna shared that the company will not hire employees to fill roles it thinks may be entirely replaced by AI.
- Hiring in roles like human resources and non-customer-facing positions will be slowed or halted altogether—affecting around 26,000 workers.
- Krishna says he expects around 30% of these workers to be replaced by AI in the next five years, accounting for 7,800 jobs lost.
- As part of this hiring pause, IBM officials say they will likely not replace any employees in those categories who leave.
Key details
Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT wowed users last year, many have worried about generative AI’s ability to replace workers in industries like customer service. The AI chatbot can generate conversation-style text, write code, and perform many repetitive tasks for workers. Krishna’s plan to reduce hiring could confirm many workers’ fears about being replaced.
Mundane and repetitive tasks in human resources, such as moving employees between departments and providing employment verification letters, can be automated. More involved tasks, such as evaluating productivity, will not be replaced, Bloomberg reports.
IBM employs around 260,000 workers and is still hiring in other departments. While IBM announced 5,000 job cuts earlier this year, the company has added more employees than it has lost in the first quarter.
Since becoming CEO in 2020, Krishna has worked to modernize IBM and focus the company on software services. In the most recent quarter, IBM surpassed profit estimates due to company job cuts and expense management.
Recently implemented productivity and efficiency measures could bring the company around $2 billion in yearly savings, Bloomberg reports.
