IBM Cutting 8,000 Jobs as AI Takes Over HR Roles

IBM announced plans this week to cut roughly 8,000 jobs in a massive move to replace human workers with artificial intelligence. The cuts will hit the company’s back-office teams the hardest, specifically in Human Resources (HR). Management says they will stop hiring for these roles and let automation handle the work instead. This report breaks down the latest filing tracked by Intellizence.

Key Facts

• The Number: Approximately 7,800 to 8,000 jobs are on the chopping block.
• The Target: Non-customer facing roles, mostly in HR and accounting.
• The Quote: CEO Arvind Krishna said he could see “30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation” over five years.
• Source: Intellizence, iScale Solutions

The Plan to Replace People

IBM is not firing everyone at once. Instead, the company is using a “hiring pause” to shrink its workforce. As people quit or retire, IBM will not replace them with new humans. Instead, they will use software to do the work. CEO Arvind Krishna was clear about the goal. He told reporters that roughly 26,000 workers currently handle non-customer facing tasks. He wants to cut that number by nearly a third using automation.

What Jobs Are Going Away?

The cuts focus on “back-office” work. This means jobs that support the company but do not deal directly with clients. Specific tasks being handed over to machines include:

• Moving employees between different departments.
• Writing employment verification letters.
• Answering routine payroll questions.

According to reports on the company’s internal tools, an AI chatbot named “AskHR” is already being used to handle simple questions. This allows IBM to run the department with fewer staff members.

Saving Cash, Not Jobs

IBM is making this move to save money. By cutting 8,000 salaries, the company reduces its expenses significantly. While management claims this will help them focus on “higher-value” work like software development, it leaves thousands of administrative workers with fewer options. This is one of the largest examples yet of a major tech company explicitly stating that AI will replace human employees.