IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the company is looking to cut about a third of its back-office workforce, which stands at about 7,800 jobs, as advances in artificial intelligence make positions redundant.
Krishna expects that within five years, up to 30% of the 26,000 non-customer-facing roles could be replaced by automation. However, an IBM spokesperson clarified that there is no hiring freeze, and the company is still hiring for specific roles.
The move comes as the development of creative AI is making it easier to perform less complex tasks, such as some human resources tasks and data management, reducing the need for human intervention.
Krishna’s announcement comes after Goldman Sachs predicted that 300 million jobs could be lost to AI-powered automation. Although the technology has the potential to automate a quarter of current work in the US and Europe, it is still prone to errors, and companies have only delegated simple tasks to it for now.
However, according to Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent figure in AI research, advanced AI developments like ChatGPT have forced tech giants to release new AI technologies at an alarming rate.
Hinton recently announced that he was leaving Google’s AI research team and criticized Microsoft for releasing ChatGPT-style technology too quickly, potentially threatening jobs and society. There is danger.
With the rapid development of AI, it is critical to balance the benefits of automation with the potential job losses and risks posed by advanced technology.
As such, companies should prioritize improving their workforce and investing in areas where humans have a comparative advantage over machines, such as creativity, problem solving, and emotional intelligence.
