The head of IBM Arvind Krishna said the company plans to reduce or temporarily suspend hiring for roles that may be replaced by AI technology in the near future.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has stated that the company intends to slow down or pause its recruitment process for job positions that can be potentially replaced by AI in the upcoming years.
During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Krishna disclosed that IBM's hiring slowdown or freeze would impact non-customer-facing positions, including those in HR and back-office departments.
According to Krishna, these positions account for roughly 26,000 positions within IBM's workforce, and he estimated that around 30% of them could be replaced by AI and automation within the next five years. This translates to approximately 7,800 jobs that Krishna is considering automating. However, IBM is reportedly still hiring for customer-facing and software development roles.
Commenting on the news to Gizmodo, IBM's communications officer Tim Davidson noted that "there is no blanket hiring ‘pause’ in place. According to him, instead, IBM is engaging in intentional and careful hiring practices, with an emphasis on positions that generate revenue.
"We’re being very selective when filling jobs that don’t directly touch our clients or technology. We are actively hiring for thousands of positions right now," he said.
Still, Krishna's remarks imply that IBM is moving towards a strategy that prioritizes automation which may lead to fewer job opportunities for individuals whose work can be automated in the future. It remains to be seen how this shift towards automation will affect the workforce and the broader economy.
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