The head of IBM tempered fears about the havoc AI is expected to wreak in the workplace, saying he won’t “get rid of a single one” of the company’s programmers but will instead “get more.”
Big Blue CEO Arvind Krishna — who has been criticized for saying artificial technology advancements can eliminate many back-office jobs — said he expects the technology to make IBM’s programmers 30% more productive at Fortune’s CEO Initiative Conference.
The Armonk, NY-based software giant plans to staff up positions in software engineering and sales in the next three to four years while phasing out HR roles, he said.
The company also debuted its own AI-backed chatbot, watsonx, last May.
Krishna conceded that “repetitive white-collar jobs” will be affected by AI during Friday’s conference.
He estimated that technology has the potential to automate as much as 20% of “lower level tasks,” though it couldn’t take over someone’s job altogether since no one’s responsibilities are entirely composed of these types of tasks.
Earlier this year. Krishna came under fire for suggesting to the Financial Times that “regulatory work” in the health care and finance industries no longer need to be done by people.
IBM has played a role in that automation, partnering with McDonald’s in 2021 that saw many drive-thrus at the fast-food chain ditch humans in favor of AI software that could take customers’ orders.
Krishna — whose company is responsible for the supercomputer Deep Blue that defeated Garry Kasparov in a 1997 chess match and Watson, a machine which won “Jeopardy!” in 2010 — also predicted that “further out,” AI will likely be capable of managing “things in like drug discovery or in trying to finish up chemistry.”
As for human resources, Krishna told FT that AI could do “90%” of data processing needed for “promoting people, hiring people, moving people” while the final judgment calls are still left in human hands.
“There are hundreds of such processes inside every enterprise, so I do think clerical white collar work is going to be able to be replaced by this.”
AI taking over customer service could also get clients “a much better answer at maybe around half the current cost,” according to Krishna. “Over time, it can get even lower than half, but it can take half out pretty quickly.”
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