International Business Machines (IBM), a multinational technology company, decided to cut costs by employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in place of 8,000 employees from its workforce.

Most of these employees were from the HR division.

Later, the organisation installed an AI-powered digital HR employee called AskHR. 

Many of the regular HR duties, like queries, documentation, and leave approvals, could be handled by AskHR.

Although it could not take on nuanced responsibilities that needed empathy or subjective judgment.

Due to this, several operational issues were raised, and the company was forced to begin hiring for all the positions it had let go of earlier.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, CEO Arvind Krishna stated, “While we have done a huge amount of work inside IBM on leveraging AI and automation on certain enterprise workflows, our total employment has actually gone up, because what it does is it gives you more investment to put into other areas.”

“Critical thinking” domains such as software engineering, sales and marketing need individuals to engage with other people directly rather than doing repetitive tasks.

Instead of reducing workforce as intended, IBM has reorganised it, actively hiring to address organisational gaps and enhance productivity. 

This strategy reflects IBM’s intention and its need for balanced AI integration. 

Earlier this month, IBM also came up with services that allow businesses to build their own AI agents to help companies with AI integration.