--- title: "IBM Replacing 7,800 Human Jobs With AI, Including Human Resources" description: "It's finally happening — IBM is replacing jobs done by human workers with AI, because we live in employment hell." date: "2023-05-02" modified: "2023-05-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ibm-replacing-humans-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "human resources" - "ibm" - "the digest" --- # IBM Replacing 7,800 Human Jobs With AI, Including Human Resources ![It's finally happening — IBM is replacing jobs done by human workers with AI, because we live in employment hell.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Welp It's happening — companies are actually replacing human workers with artificial intelligence. In an [interview with *Bloomberg*](), IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said that tech company is slowing or suspending hiring for any jobs that could possibly be done by AI — including, somehow, human resources and other non-customer-facing roles that amount to roughly 26,000 positions. "I could easily see 30 percent of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period," Krishna told the publication, which means that in total, AI could replace up to 7,800 jobs. Part of this reduction, an IBM spokesperson told *Bloomberg*, may include not rehiring for any jobs that people vacate in the coming months. The company currently employs about 260,000 people, and with 10 percent of those jobs being in non-customer service roles, it's unclear what may be on the chopping block next. ## Here We Go News of this AI job replacement scheme comes after IBM announced earlier in 2023 that it would be [laying off 3,900 people](), though as *Bloomberg* notes, the company has added about 5,000 jobs in the first quarter of the year as well. While fears of [AI replacing human]() workers have sykrocketed since OpenAI released its game-changing ChatGPT software last year, this appears to be one of the first times a company has been this straightforward about its plans to do exactly that. That doesn't, however, mean that this is the first time it's happened. In April, *BuzzFeed* CEO Jonah Peretti announced that the company was [kiboshing its entire news division]() — a move that came just a few months after it began publishing [AI quizzes]() and [content](). While the decision to close the pioneering digital newsroom ostensibly was a financial one, it's nearly impossible to see the move to AI and the closure of *BuzzFeed News* as unrelated. As of now, it's unclear how exactly IBM plans to go about replacing human labor with AI, but overall it doesn't bode well. **More on AI:** *[Godfather of AI Quits Google, Fears AI's Risks and Regrets His Work]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()