IBM to Pause Hiring for Jobs That AI Could Do

  • Roughly 7,800 IBM jobs could be replaced by AI, automation
  • CEO Krishna says IBM to pause hiring for replaceable roles
Arvind Krishna during an interview in New York on May 1.Photographer: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg

International Business Machines Corp. Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said the company expects to pause hiring for roles it thinks could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the coming years.

Hiring in back-office functions — such as human resources — will be suspended or slowed, Krishna said in an interview. These non-customer-facing roles amount to roughly 26,000 workers, Krishna said. “I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period.”