• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechIBM

IBM CEO who plans hiring pause for 7,800 jobs due to A.I. says the world will be worse without the technology. ‘Otherwise quality of life is going to fall’

Paolo Confino
By
Paolo Confino
Paolo Confino
Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
Paolo Confino
By
Paolo Confino
Paolo Confino
Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 22, 2023, 2:31 PM ET
Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna believes “back office, white-collar work” will be the first to be impacted by A.I.Bloomberg

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna thinks A.I.’s ability to increase worker productivity is the solution to a vexing problem faced by many developed countries: shrinking workforces. 

Recommended Video

“In all of these developed countries there is actually a disinflation in the demographics,” he said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. “Population is flat or in the worst case declining. Then if I look at people who are working age, it is declining, so you need to get productivity. Otherwise, quality of life is going to fall. And A.I. is the only answer we got.” 

Working-age populations in some of the world’s most important economies such as Japan, South Korea, the U.K., and China are indeed declining, according to the World Bank. In the U.S. the picture was a little rosier, with the numbers of workers remaining flat since 2020 after decades of steady increases—a trend likely exacerbated by the Great Resignation.

Krishna was also responding to the unusually tight U.S. labor market that has made it difficult to hire enough employees. His point was that firms can no longer hire as many new employees as they would like, and therefore must get accustomed to doing more with less, or at least the same resources they currently have. 

With A.I., Krishna says, companies “can get the same work done with fewer people—that’s just the nature of productivity.”  

He’s convinced humans will work alongside A.I. rather than be replaced by it. “You get digital labor or A.I. bots augmenting or working alongside their fellow humans doing that work,” he said. 

In a commentary for Fortune in April, Krishna provided some examples of how he expected that process to play out. Citing the example of human resource departments, he said IBM can now deploy just 50 workers using A.I. to do what previously required 700 employees.

“That’s freed up a very significant number of people to spend more time providing important talent-related services, such as career guidance and support for managers, which requires thought and creativity, rather than doing routine paperwork,” he wrote. 

Jobs that require repetitive, manual tasks are the ones that Krishna thinks are first in line to be impacted by A.I. “I actually believe that the first set of roles that will get impacted are, what I call, back office, white-collar work,” said Krishna. And while that raises the specter of mass unemployment and pervasive job cuts, Krishna has said previously that A.I. will create more jobs than it eliminates. Whether his prediction comes to fruition remains to be seen. 

An IBM spokesperson said the company had nothing to share beyond beyond Krishna’s CNBC interview and Fortune commentary.

This wasn’t the first time Krishna has spoken about artificial intelligence’s impact on jobs. In May, he said IBM would freeze hiring for 7,800 roles the company thought could be replaced by A.I.  

In Tuesday’s CNBC interview, Krishna said he was “slightly misquoted” in the coverage of those remarks. Rather than eliminating those roles, IBM simply won’t backfill those that are left open through the normal annual attrition of 5% to 6%. Crucially, the policy will be in place only for five years, after which presumably hiring will pick up again, but for a host of new roles created because of A.I. 

IBM was among the first companies in artificial intelligence

IBM was among the earliest players in artificial intelligence. Long before generative A.I. became available to the public through services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, IBM had created Watson, a machine-learning-powered tool that responded to natural language. The initial promise of Watson—that it could help in health care and professional services—may not have panned out. Customers mostly felt the tool was limited to answering trivia questions, rather than revolutionizing how people work. 

But IBM took the experience it gained by developing Watson as a universal application and tweaked its business model to create A.I. tools for specific use cases. To cater to A.I. developers, IBM introduced Watsonxai, a service that provides access to large language models that are the basis for most artificial intelligence technologies. Like many others the company also jumped headfirst into generative A.I. with Watson Assistant, meant to rival ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. Additionally, IBM has an A.I. tool called IBM RXN for Chemistry, which is pitched as being able to predict the outcomes of chemical reactions. 

Krishna reiterated on Tuesday his belief that A.I. would be universally applied, saying it will make “every enterprise process more productive.”

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.
About the Author
Paolo Confino
By Paolo ConfinoReporter

Paolo Confino is a former reporter on Fortune’s global news desk where he covers each day’s most important stories.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Artemis II astronauts are more than halfway to the moon as they seek to break a distance record for humans set by Apollo 13
InnovationNASA
Artemis II astronauts are more than halfway to the moon as they seek to break a distance record for humans set by Apollo 13
By Marcia Dunn and The Associated PressApril 4, 2026
14 hours ago
3 reasons OpenAI buying daily tech show TBPN for hundreds of millions isn’t totally crazy
Startups & VentureOpenAI
3 reasons OpenAI buying daily tech show TBPN for hundreds of millions isn’t totally crazy
By Alyson ShontellApril 4, 2026
15 hours ago
matt
CommentaryMarkets
The AI gold rush is real — but great companies don’t need to mine it
By Matt WitheilerApril 4, 2026
17 hours ago
Microsoft just turned 51. Here’s a look at an iconic 1978 photo of its first employees and where they are now
Big TechMicrosoft
Microsoft just turned 51. Here’s a look at an iconic 1978 photo of its first employees and where they are now
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezApril 4, 2026
17 hours ago
alex
AIInfrastructure
AI’s next frontier is the real world
By Alex IsraelApril 4, 2026
20 hours ago
workers
AIdisruption
A Yale economist says AGI won’t automate most jobs—because they’re not worth the trouble
By Nick LichtenbergApril 4, 2026
21 hours ago

Most Popular

The World Cup is supposed to be an economic windfall. But 'you're seeing a number of headwinds' now
North America
The World Cup is supposed to be an economic windfall. But 'you're seeing a number of headwinds' now
By Fortune EditorsApril 4, 2026
17 hours ago
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
Innovation
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
2 days ago
College grads in ‘AI-proof’ careers like psychology and education are seeing negative returns on their degrees
Personal Finance
College grads in ‘AI-proof’ careers like psychology and education are seeing negative returns on their degrees
By Fortune EditorsApril 4, 2026
18 hours ago
Current price of oil as of April 3, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of April 3, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 3, 2026
2 days ago
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
Real Estate
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
By Fortune EditorsApril 2, 2026
3 days ago
Major 4-day workweek study suggests that when we work 5 days we spend one doing basically nothing
Success
Major 4-day workweek study suggests that when we work 5 days we spend one doing basically nothing
By Fortune EditorsApril 2, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.