Amid the rapid, world- and business-impacting advancements in AI and automation, Krishna allegedly said that IBM’s hiring of non-customer-facing positions — such as in human resources — will likely be slowed or suspended.

In terms of numbers, these back-office roles amount to approximately 26,000 workers. According to Bloomberg, IBM’s CEO said: “I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year-period.” This equates to around 7,800 non-customer-facing positions.

Part of any reduction would include not replacing roles vacated by attrition, an IBM spokesperson is said to have added.

Krishna apparently went on to say that more mundane tasks — such as providing employment verification letters, or moving employees between departments — will likely be fully-automated.

He also supposedly added that some human resources functions — evaluating workforce productivity and composition, for instance — probably won’t be replaced over the next decade.

The CEO’s comments come at a time when the knock-on effects of generative AI are being heatedly debated in tech circles and beyond, with its impact on work and employment being at the forefront of these discussions.

The findings of recent research conducted by the World Economic Forum, for instance, suggest that 23% of all jobs are expected to change in the next five years, with AI and tech set to play a fundamental part in global labour market turbulence.

Meanwhile, according to a report from Goldman Sachs, generative AI could expose 300 million full-time jobs to automation.

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In terms of its current hiring outlook, IBM is said to be continuing to hire for software development and customer-facing roles. The company employs around 260,000 to 280,000 workers across the board.

Earlier this year, IBM was just one of the many large-scale tech companies to announce job cuts — around 4,000 workers. However, Krishna allegedly noted that IBM had brought on about 7,000 people in this year’s first quarter, meaning that workforce numbers have risen overall.