IBM CEO is creating a hiring freeze, with the expectation of replacing 7,800 jobs with AI technology within the next five years.

Bloomberg News sat down in an interview with IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna on Monday. In the interview, it was revealed that International Business Machines Corp (IBM) plans on putting a pause on hiring certain positions, as the company is expecting artificial intelligence (AI) to take over around 7,800 IT major jobs within the next five years.

According to Arvind Krishna, IBM’s hiring pause, currently will only affect the back-office sections like human resources, administration, etc. He further added that around 30% of non-customer facing roles could easily be replaced by the advancements of AI and automation in the next couple of years.

This announcement comes as a result of the increased interest in AI, following the OpenAI’s ChatGPT launch in November. The viral chatbot that was backed by Microsoft garnered a significant amount of attention across the globe, its potential to ultimately change industries as we know it, is exceptional. IBM’s reduction in workforce therefore, may include not filling roles that were left open due to attrition, stated the CEO.

The impact and sudden rise in AI within the job market still remains a hot topic of debate, however, the adoption of AI within different industries has a vast potential to create new work opportunities and reshape workforce as a whole.