7,800 jobs at IBM could be replaced by AI within years, suggests CEO
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) is expecting to put a “pause” on hiring for "back-office" roles that could be potentially automated by artificial intelligence (AI) instead.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna explained in a May 1 interview with Bloomberg that many “back-office” positions such as those in the human resources and accounting departments will likely be the first to be automated by AI.
The IBM boss added he could "easily" see 30% of these positions replaced by AI over a five-year period.
Dropbox: Laying off 500 people and replacing them with AIIBM: Pausing hiring for ~7,800 roles that could be done by AIAI is already replacing jobs
IBM employs 282,000 employees globally according to LinkedIn and according to Bloomberg has around 26,000 non-customer-facing staff — meaning around 7,800 jobs could be handed over to AI.
According to some reports, AI-based automation has already helped IBM save well over $1 billion in business expenses and maintenance costs.
Among the tasks that may be automated include providing employment verification letters or moving employees between departments.
However, Krishna thinks human resource roles that evaluate workforce composition, measure productivity and other tasks that benefit from human judgement likely won’t be replaced over the next decade.
For AI to work, it must be built responsibly. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna shares how organizations can prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead in @FortuneMagazine: https://t.co/WYBu6VUCuc pic.twitter.com/gZtLwTNklb
Many industry pundits remain at crossroads on whether AI actually has the potential to leave humans without work on a mass scale.
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