What roles will be first replaced by AI?

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said AI can easily replace the workforce responsible for back-office operations and Human Resource management. He said, “I could easily see 30 per cent of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period.” Krishna further said that mundane tasks like verification of employment letters and basic accountancy can easily be replaced by AI.

The AI-led automation by IBM is apparently a part of the company’s cost-cutting efforts. Some reports suggest that such efforts have already helped IBM save over $1 billion in operational expenses and maintenance costs. The company also announced 4,000 layoffs earlier this year and has paused further hiring.

Growing trend among companies to replace humans with AI

IBM’s decision to pause hiring to widen the use of AI reflects a growing trend across companies to prefer AI over humans for mundane tasks. For instance, Amazon is also working on plans to replace all of its recruiters with AI. On the other hand, there are some experts who believe the emergence of AI can actually help employees get rid of redundant tasks and increase their productivity.

Situation not entirely grim

Milind Lakkad, the chief human resources officer (CHRO) of TCS, India’s top IT company, believes that AI should be seen more as a co-worker than a threat to corporate workers. In an interview given to PTI earlier this year, Lakkad said, “It (generative AI) will be a co-worker. It will be a co-worker and that co-worker will take time for them to understand the context of the customer … It’s (generative AI) a good thing to happen for the future, but I think it will be collaboration rather than replacement.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also believes that the rise of AI would create more “satisfaction in current jobs and net new jobs.” In fact, he went on to say that AI can actually lead to wage hikes in some cases and produce more AI-related jobs.