According to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, AI will replace 7,800 positions over the course of the next five years, raising concerns about broad job losses in several industries.
Arvind's remarks and others' comments reinforce the idea that AI may reduce the need for support personnel and, as a result, save costs for the company. It will set the course for other businesses to search for possibilities of a similar nature in their support activities.
The business was trying to reduce employment for positions that artificial intelligence (AI) potentially take over. The CEO stated that these 26,000 tasks, which are essentially not related to customers, include back office duties like human resources, and that 30% of these roles, or around 7,800 employment, might be eliminated by automation or artificial intelligence in the upcoming five years.
The Future of Jobs study from the World Economic Forum estimates that AI would eliminate 85 million jobs globally by 2025. The paper acknowledges that although 97 million new jobs might be created by AI, they won't be the same as the ones that are lost and that there will be employment losses as well.
The use of AI by IBM is a smart labor approach
A few months after the business said it would eliminate 3,900 positions, or 1.5% of its workforce, Krishna made statements about AI replacing people. Analysts contend that it is past due for AI to take over menial tasks.
'If IBM is halting 7,800 jobs that AI could accomplish, that would be a smart move for the firm,' said Lily Phan, research director at IDC. 'I wouldn't think it was a good strategy to employ roles that could have been easily done by AI and automation in the first place.
In an effort to increase efficiency, IBM spin-off and managed IT services firm Kyndryl announced in March that it was "eliminating" a tiny proportion of worldwide employment. Following the layoffs at Kyndryl, RedHat, a company owned by IBM, also made job cuts.
Large technology corporations like IBM have continued to shrink its staff since their hiring frenzy during the pandemic, when lockdowns triggered a tech purchasing spree to enable remote work and a surge in e-commerce. This is done in an effort to become more efficient and save money.
Jain emphasized that the CEO of IBM's remarks were more of a wish than a strategy. This is only a projection and estimate of current trends over the following five years. It could take more than five years or the actual figures might not be that great. We do not yet know what difficulties may arise in scaling up these early AI or AI implementation trials, according to Jain. "Arvind has stated that he anticipates a 30% staff drop in the HR department over the course of the next five years due to AI. I believe it to be a hope at this stage rather than a plan.
Unimportant chores will be automated
Krishna cited a number of roles that are likely to experience change over the next five years, stating that while some tasks, like measuring productivity, will remain relevant for the next ten years, others, like employee verification and employee transfers, will be fully automated.
Analysts claim that positions that are likely to be affected internationally don't even need human intelligence. This refers to the normal tasks that just call for information access, transactions, and updating and don't require analysis or judgment. As bias and hallucinations are not given much attention, these jobs are in danger.
In reality, AI and automation have been gradually affecting regular employment for a while now, as seen by IVR [interactive voice response] or chatbots in customer service for information access and complaints. This development has been hastened by generative AI.
Regarding the effect of AI on jobs, some analysts are more upbeat than others. According to IDC's Phan, the fear of losing employment to AI may be linked to the period when robots first gained popularity.
A few years ago, there were similar concerns that people would lose their jobs to computers, but in actuality, there are more jobs than ever. The replacement of occupations by AI would help with routine and physical chores while leaving more specialized/customized work to people who need human abilities, connections, and emotional intelligence.
Not all employment will be replaced by AI, and its widespread use will result in the development of highly skilled professions. Although there is a lot of anxiety about job losses, it will only force the workforce to realign and undergo more relevant skill set training.