IBM's Bold Move: How Replacing 200 HR Roles with AI Agents Impacts the Workforce

IBM has begun replacing a portion of its HR (human resource) staff with AI agents in a bid to automate internal processes and reduce routine tasks. The company's CEO, Arvind Krishna, recently mentioned that artificial intelligence has taken over the work of "a couple hundred" HR employees as the tech giant leans more heavily into AI-powered tools. This move reflects a trend where companies are increasingly relying on AI to streamline internal processes, thereby reducing their dependency on manual tasks. While IBM hasn't shared a specific timeline, reports suggest around 200 roles have already been phased out.

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Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

This has been on my mind for some time—if you think of the most repetitive tasks that can be handled automatically, a large part of it falls in the HR space. However, I am hopeful that as some roles disappear, other roles may appear. I was talking to an IT entrepreneur just today, and he was saying that long ago, AC units had to be assembled. When complete AC units started being produced, the jobs transitioned from being an assembly technician to a maintenance technician. So he, as an IT entrepreneur working on various development projects, now has the role of being the maintainer.

That said, this transition is very worrying—the number of jobs lost and the complete hiring freezes in most companies says a lot about where things are headed.