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International Business Machines Corporation, or simply IBM, is implementing a new round of job cuts, mainly affecting its marketing and communication divisions. The layoffs are happening as the company shifts its focus to artificial intelligence (AI).
Layoffs in the Tech Business Sector
Times of India reported that IBM's chief executive officer, Arvind Krishna, accentuated the organization's commitment to teaching its workforce additional skills in AI. While the exact number of jobs to be terminated was not indicated, it was said that it would be a significant workforce reduction for the company.
Moreover, IBM's decision to slash jobs comes as it proceeds with its shift to AI and other emerging technologies. During their 7-minute meeting, IBM's chief communications officer, Jonathan Adashek, relayed the upcoming job cuts to employees.
These job terminations follow the layoffs that only took place in January. At that time, IBM let go of around 4,000 employees as tech companies continued to downsize mainly to cut costs. The tech industry collectively cut almost 50,000 workers since the start of this year.
Moving Towards AI
Quartz reported that IBM has a clear goal of making a significant shift to artificial intelligence and other new advanced technologies. The company said this change will help boost productivity and align its workforce with the skills that are currently in demand among the clients, particularly in the fields of AI and hybrid cloud.
"In 4Q earnings earlier this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single-digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with," IBM's spokesman told Quartz. "This rebalancing is driven by increases in productivity and our continued push to align our workforce with the skills most in-demand among our clients, especially areas such as AI and hybrid cloud."
