New Delhi: According to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, the company has been able to increase employment in more strategic and revenue-generating roles like sales and programming by substituting artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for human resources (HR) employees. This has not resulted in a general loss of jobs.
According to reports, Krishna clarified that IBM was able to reorganise some company processes, beginning with human resources, by utilising AI and automation internally. The company eliminated a few hundred positions by reducing its reliance on traditional HR staff by implementing AI bots that could analyse data, perform research, and provide regular messages. But the resulting efficiencies and savings were promptly transferred.
“While we have done a huge amount of work inside IBM on leveraging AI and automation on certain enterprise workflows, our total employment has gone up,” Krishna said. “Because what it does is it gives you more investment to put into other areas.”
Those areas include software engineering, sales and marketing—what Krishna described as “critical thinking” roles that require human interaction, creativity, and decision-making. These are domains, he added, that demand people “to do things that face up or against other humans, as opposed to just doing rote process work.”
Although IBM has not revealed the precise time frame for these HR job cuts, the change reflects a larger pattern: businesses are using automation to expedite HR operations while reallocating resources to departments that have a direct influence on innovation and expansion.
A variety of HR-related duties are now performed by the company’s in-house AI agents, including workforce data analysis, follow-up correspondence, and CV screening. Krishna claims that this has allowed the business to adopt a more flexible and responsive hiring approach, especially for technical and customer-facing positions.
IBM’s methodology has ramifications that go beyond its employees. The change marks a new era for the HR industry as a whole, one in which automation is not only a danger but also a force for change. Payroll, compliance reporting, performance monitoring, and other routine HR duties are becoming more and more automated, freeing up HR practitioners to concentrate on strategic duties like organisational culture, leadership development, and talent engagement.
Krishna has already discussed how AI can save operating expenses while creating new growth opportunities.
Earlier this year, he said that as the cost of AI continues to drop, its use will likely “explode,” driving demand for the technology across sectors. “We will find that the usage will explode as costs come down,” he told Bloomberg Television in February.
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