IBM CEO’s take on AI’s influence on the business landscape

IBM’s CEO, Arvind Krishna, has left no room for doubt – AI is set to revolutionize the business world. Earlier this year, Krishna articulated a vision where humans work hand in hand with AI, a perspective he shared in an article for Luck. He went on to predict that AI could potentially take over a substantial chunk, between 30% to 50%, of routine jobs, even asserting that AI might perform them more effectively than human counterparts. Fast forward a few months, and Krishna’s predictions are unfolding right before us. IBM has officially hit the brakes on hiring, and the reason boils down to AI.

Arvind Krishna’s vision of the future of the workplace:

IBM CEO believes that AI will be integrated into practically every firm. He expects AI to automate back-office tasks and boost efficiency. IBM’s human resources department employed AI to considerably cut the number of HR managers required. Krishna has also suggested that AI will play a critical role in economic productivity due to a falling working-age population. He has called for a hiring halt in roles that AI will impact in the next five years.

In line with Krishna’s vision, IBM recently shared a report emphasising that AI is not set to replace human workers. Rather, it proposes that individuals who harness AI will outpace those who do not. This intriguing analysis is detailed in IBM’s report. According to IBM’s findings, executives anticipate that approximately 40% of their workforce will require reskilling in response to the integration of AI and automation within the next three years. Nonetheless, organisations that are actively reshaping their operational models are already surpassing others in terms of revenue growth. This underscores the significance of strategically adapting work structures in the context of advancing AI technologies.

IBM’s bet on AI

Recently, IBM successfully secured a $235 million funding round for the $4.5 billion AI company Hugging Face. It’s interesting to note that Krishna has collaborated with a well-known open-source startup before.

On Friday, IBM announced its participation in a Series D funding round for Hugging Face, which raised a staggering $235 million. Hugging Face, based in New York, is well-known for its library of open-source machine learning models, contributing to the technology’s growing popularity. IBM and Hugging Face have been working together since May, developing AI tools. In addition, IBM has recently uploaded nearly 200 open AI models to Hugging Face’s platform. Notably, one of these models is a collaboration between IBM and NASA, marking the space agency’s first open-source AI model.

IBM’s consulting division, WatsonXai, has partnered with Hugging Face to develop AI solutions for various companies. Hugging Face, which has partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon, will provide its models to IBM’s customers seeking advisory AI solutions. This collaboration will also allow Hugging Face to utilize Amazon’s Trenium chip for training its upcoming model, named Bloom.