IBM pauses hiring for around 7,800 jobs it may replace with AI
IBM has teased plans to replace 7,800 back-office functions within the company with fully automated alternatives.
As major tech companies continue to embrace and apply AI to a wide range of products and businesses, IBM has teased plans to use AI and related automated systems to replace a significant number of jobs within the company. It has frozen hiring on around 7,800 positions which it is targeting to replace with AI and automated technologies over the course of the next five years.
The tease of these plans was first reported via Bloomberg, which recently interviewed IBM CEO Arvind Krishna. In the interview, Krishna shared that among the departments in the company being targeted for AI replacement was Human Resources. IBM hopes to relegate HR duties such as employee movements and services to automated systems. Meanwhile, situations that require a more human-like scrutiny will remain staffed for at least another 10 years. Nonetheless, Krishna went on to say that hiring will be either slowed or paused on further non-customer-facing roles which could affect around 26,000 positions, including the 7,800 positions targeted for direct replacement.
Source: ChatGPT
IBM currently employs around 280,000 workers worldwide. The 7,800 positions that could be targeted for replacement by AI would only constitute about 3 percent of its total workforce. Nonetheless, it marks one of the biggest planned replacements of human employees by AI systems since the AI tech craze began. It also comes at a time when the tech industry has been laying off huge numbers of employees to cut costs, such as the layoff of around 10,000 employees at Microsoft and 11,000 employees at Meta.
As AI technology continues to grow via popular services like ChatGPT, it remains to be seen if IBM’s plan to replace 7,800 jobs is the last we see of moves like this. Stay tuned as we continue to follow AI technology here at Shacknews.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, IBM pauses hiring for around 7,800 jobs it may replace with AI
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Hello this is HR bot. How may I help you?
"Gary in accounting chews too loudly, I would like to file a complaint."
Looks like you've got a case of the Garys. Let me tell you, I feel your pain. I know what it's like to have someone chewing in your ear like a chainsaw. It's like, can you chew any louder, Gary? But before we go filing any complaints or anything like that, have you tried talking to Gary about it? You know, maybe he doesn't even realize how loud he's chewing. Just be like, "Hey Gary, I don't mean to be a pain in the ass, but could you chew a little quieter?" And if that doesn't work, well, there's always the trusty pair of earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones. But hey, let's not get too crazy here, we don't want to cause a ruckus over some loud chewing.
Thank you for using HR bot. This chat will close in 1 minutes.
I generated that with chat GPT after telling it to act like it was in the movie office space.
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I predict IBM will reverse course very shortly on a whole bunch of these jobs, because:
a.) it's not a good look, optically;
b.) they'll realize that real and creative humans are actually very useful in running a dynamic and ever-changing business; and
c.) the expected gains don't materialize.-
<$100,000 gets you a fine server for your AI bots to run on. That's like 2 employees annual salary, so $100k vs 390 million, minimum for 7,800 employees annual salaries.
This is the same company that convince(s)(d) companies they need to let IBM handle their IT needs remotely. ~70% of their workforce is outsourced to overseas workers. Still think they give a shit about people more than money? -
I think you should assume d) IBM is pausing hiring because IBM's (lack of) business does not necessitate more hiring
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