IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has announced that the company is likely to halt or reduce employment hiring, as artificial intelligence (AI) may eliminate around 7,800 positions in the near future.
Krishna stated that hiring in back-office functions such as human resources would slow down or stop.
He also forecasted that in the next five years, automation and AI could replace up to 30% of roles that don’t involve customer-facing tasks.
IBM To Pause Hiring Fearing ChatGPT
In a recent announcement, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna stated that the company plans to halt or reduce hiring for certain roles, as AI may take over around 7,800 jobs in the coming years.
The company will particularly slow or suspend hiring for back-office functions like human resources, as automation and AI could replace up to 30% of non-customer-facing roles within the next five years.
This decision aligns with the possibility of reducing roles through attrition rather than replacement.
These remarks were made amid the growing worldwide popularity of AI, which has gained momentum following the release of the viral chatbot ChatGPT by OpenAI, backed by Microsoft (MSFT.O), in November 2022.
Additionally, we previously reported that IBM employees have been laid off as part of asset divestments.
IBM Fires 3900 Employees For Asset Divestments
IBM let go of 3,900 workers due to asset divestments. Although the company exceeded revenue projections in Q4, it missed its annual cash target.
Consequently, James Kavanaugh, the CFO, said that IBM remains committed to hiring for R&D roles that are client-facing.
IBM released a formal statement stating that the reason for the recent layoffs is due to the separation of its Kyndryl business and a section of Watson Health, which is their AI division.
The company expects to incur a charge of $300 million between January and March as a result of these layoffs, which also caused their shares to drop by 2% during extended trading.
It has been reported by the media that around 200,000 IT employees, including some record numbers at Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon, have been let go since November of the previous year.
