CEO Arvind Krishna explained in an interview with Bloomberg that IBM is taking a break from new hires, especially in the human resources and accounting departments. The aim is to replace these possible jobs with artificial intelligence in the coming years, which would put around 7,800 jobs at risk.

AI is becoming increasingly important around the world. This doesn’t just apply to students using ChatGPT for their next book review; technology is also increasingly influencing business. At IBM, there is talk of 7,800 jobs that would be lost in the next five years, replaced by artificial intelligence. These changes would be felt most strongly in accounting and human resources, which employ about 26,000 people. According to the Bloomberg interview given by CEO Arvind Krishna, it’s entirely possible that 30 percent of those jobs will be replaced by AI and automation in the coming years.

In particular, tasks such as moving staff between departments and verifying new people will soon be taken over by artificial intelligence, Krishna said. For more complex tasks such as evaluations, it would take at least another ten years for AI to take over.

AI vs. jobs

This isn’t the first report to link the rise of artificial intelligence to jobs that could be lost. Dropbox recently announced that the company would layoff 500 as part of a restructuring to keep up with the growth of AI. According to a recent report by the financial group Goldman Sachs, no fewer than 300 million jobs are at risk from automation, whether AI-driven or not. However, the same report also mentioned that artificial intelligence can create entirely new jobs, but this was not discussed in detail for the time being.

Human Resources at IBM

Arvind Krishna’s statements make IBM one of the largest technology companies to link artificial intelligence with (possible) job losses. It’s not entirely new anymore, according to a Fortune report, IBM has already saved a billion dollars by implementing AI in human resources since 2011.

The computer company’s attitude has fluctuated lately. Finding talent is now easier, according to Krishna, and 7,000 people were hired in the first quarter. But in January there was also the announcement that 3,900 layoffs were imminent; A number that could even increase.

IBM’s most recent quarter was more profitable than expected thanks to increased focus on spending. Influenced in part by the aforementioned layoffs. The goal would be $2 billion in savings by the end of next year, according to CFO James Kavanaugh. So this is undoubtedly not the last message on the topic of AI and jobs.