Amid widespread concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the workforce, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has confirmed that the company will pause hiring and replace up to 800 jobs with artificial intelligence.
That shift will happen over the next few years, Krishna said in an interview with Bloomberg. The company estimates that as many as 30% of non-customer-facing roles could be automated within five years. Some may be due to employees leaving without changing roles.
In March, IBM announced it would cut 800 jobs, The New York Times reported, or less than half of the 7,800 roles it said would now be performed by AI. Layoffs have plagued the tech industry this year, with tens of thousands of workers axed from giants including Meta , Amazon, Twitter and Microsoft. Roku, Disney, and EA plan to do the same in 2023.
PCMag reached out to IBM for comment, including the roles most likely to be affected, and how the company will measure the performance of its AI “workers” compared to people who previously filled those roles. We’ll update this story if the company responds.
For decades, scientists and researchers working closely with artificial intelligence systems have warned that the technology has the potential to replace human jobs. The launch of ChatGPT in <> September 2022 appears to have exacerbated concerns.
In December, the White House released a report regarding the impact of AI on the workforce, it says that “workers in certain jobs will inevitably be displaced as AI automates rather than augments workers’ tasks and/or workers no longer possess the skills required to perform their jobs.
“These adjustment costs and disruptions have also characterized previous technological upheavals, exemplified by the automation of the telephone operator role. However, these costs may be particularly acute now due to the rapid pace of development of artificial intelligence,” the report added.
AI could replace around 30 billion jobs globally, the BBC reports. However, new jobs will also be created, making the net impact on job creation difficult to assess.
