International Business Machines Corp. CEO Arvind Krishna said the organization hopes to stop employing for jobs it thinks could be supplanted with artificial intelligence in the coming years.

Krishna stated in an interview that hiring for back-office functions like human resources would be halted or slowed down. These non-customer-facing roles amount to approximately 26,000 workers. Krishna stated, “I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period.”

That would mean around 7,800 jobs lost. An IBM spokesperson stated that a part of any reduction would consist of not filling vacant positions caused by attrition.

Many observers have expressed concern regarding the potential for artificial intelligence tools to disrupt the labor market as their capacity to automate customer service, write text, and generate code has captured the public’s imagination. One of the most significant workforce strategies announced in response to the rapidly advancing technology is Krishna’s plan.

According to Krishna, more routine tasks like sending letters of verification of employment or moving employees between departments will probably be completely automated. He went on to say that some HR functions, like determining the composition of a workforce and how productive it is, probably won’t be replaced in the next decade.

IBM continues to recruit for software development and customer-facing roles and currently has approximately 260,000 employees. Krishna stated that it is easier than it was a year ago to locate talent. This year, the company announced layoffs that could result in the loss of approximately 5,000 employees. However, according to Krishna, IBM hired approximately 7,000 new employees in the first quarter.

As CEO since 2020, Krishna has focused the century-old company on software and services like a hybrid cloud. He has sold off lower-growth businesses like Kyndryl Inc., a managed infrastructure unit, and part of Watson Health’s business. The company is thinking about selling its weather unit right now.

Due to expense management, including the previously announced job cuts, IBM’s most recent quarter in Armonk, New York, surpassed estimates for profit. New efficiency and production steps are supposed to drive $2 billion a year in reserve funds toward the finish of 2024, CFO James Kavanaugh said upon the arrival of profit.

Krishna claimed that the United States could avoid a recession until the end of 2022. Presently, he sees the potential for a “shallow and short” downturn close to the furthest limit of this current year. Anurag Rana of Bloomberg Intelligence wrote last week that despite the worsening macroeconomic concerns, the company should be able to maintain steady growth thanks to its robust software portfolio, which includes the acquired Red Hat unit.