In an interview, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna stated, “I could easily see 30% of that being replaced in five years by AI and automation.” His remark arrives at a time when generative AI has captured the imagination of people worldwide.
In the future years, the American technology company IBM plans to eliminate certain positions and replace them with artificial intelligence. In an interview, the CEO of IBM, Arvind Krishna, stated that artificial intelligence may supplant certain back-office tasks within the next five years. According to Krishna, AI could potentially replace human resources. This is in response to the fact that other companies, notably Amazon, have terminated HR personnel in favour of deploying AI. Earlier this year, IBM also announced draconian cost-cutting measures. In January, the company announced plans to lay off approximately 4,000 employees.
In an interview, the CEO of IBM stated, “I could easily see 30% of that being replaced by AI and automation over the next five years.” Nearly 7,800 jobs at IBM, which employs approximately 26,000 people, could be replaced by AI in the future years.
The company has more than 260,000 employees and is still recruiting for software development and customer-facing positions. Krisha stated in the interview that despite the layoffs, the company employed approximately 7,000 new employees in the first quarter. This year, IBM laid off employees after announcing plans to spin off and sell two corporate enterprises.
The statement by IBM CEO Krishna comes at a time when generative AI has captivated the attention of people all over the world, as evidenced by the launches of ChatGPT by OpenAI, Bing Chat by Microsoft, and Bard by Google. Some global tech companies, including those in India, are even employing prompt managers to assist with office duties using AI-capable chatbot commands. In fact, a Bengaluru-based company decided to offer ChatGPT Plus memberships to employees after observing a rise in productivity.
Some tech visionaries, such as Elon Musk, believe that artificial intelligence requires government regulation and intervention. Musk even signed an open letter demanding a moratorium to the development of artificial intelligence for the remainder of 2023.