Arvind Krishna, the CEO of IBM, has announced that the company will pause recruitment for jobs that could be replaced with AI within the next five years. Krishna explained that jobs in back-office functions like human resources will slowly be phased out as AI technology continues to advance.

He added that he could “easily see 30% of that [the 26,000 workers handling non-customer-facing roles] getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period,” which translates to about 7,800 jobs being lost. Krishna expects that more mundane HR tasks such as providing employment verification letters or moving employees between departments will likely be fully automated, while other HR functions like evaluating workforce composition and productivity will probably not be replaced over the next decade.

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The CEO emphasized that IBM will continue to hire for software development and customer-facing roles, but hiring in back-office roles will fade out as AI replaces human workers. According to Krishna, finding talent for software development and customer-facing roles is easier than it was a year ago.

Earlier this year, IBM announced job cuts that would affect about 5,000 workers once completed. However, Krishna said IBM has added to its workforce overall, bringing on about 7,000 people in the first quarter.

Krishna’s comments come at a time when AI technology is becoming more prevalent in workplaces around the world, and reports suggest that machines or AI will take over millions of full-time jobs from humans. Other organisations such as Amazon and Meta have laid off workers in recent months due to macroeconomic challenges.

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While AI technology presents many opportunities for businesses to automate processes, it is also causing concern about job displacement and the need for reskilling workers.