IBM to Replace Employees with Artificial Intelligence Over Next Five Years

International Business Machines (IBM), a corporation specializing in software and IT services, has announced that some employees could be replaced by artificial intelligence over the next five years. Currently, the number of such employees is about 8,000. This information was reported by Ведомости, citing Bloomberg.

It has been reported that the hiring of new personnel will either be suspended or slowed down. At the same time, the initiative will not affect employees who interact with customers. According to the company's CEO Arvind Krishna, IBM employs approximately 26,000 people whose responsibilities do not involve customer interaction.

“I can easily assume that 30 percent of them could be replaced by artificial intelligence and automation over the next five years,” he stated.

According to Bloomberg estimates, layoffs could affect about 7,800 employees. In total, the company has 260,000 employees. Potential replacements will concern those employees whose functions are not directly tied to human interaction and can be automated. However, functions such as personnel and performance evaluation are unlikely to be replaced in the next ten years.

The agency estimates that this could be the largest personnel change at the corporate level. Earlier, the company also reported a 1.5 percent reduction in positions, which amounts to nearly 4,000 people.