IBM is slashing down its employee count on the company's marketing and communications division amidst its shift towards more AI in the workforce, CNBC reported.
According to people familiar with the matter, IBM CFO Jonathan Adashek broke the bad news on Monday via a seven-minute call with staffers.
The "workforce rebalancing charge" will supposedly affect "a very low single-digit percentage" of its total global workforce.
IBM Gears Up for Layoffs Ahead of Announcement
The layoffs came in a few weeks after IBM has reportedly been asking employees who want to volunteer for its upcoming job cuts across its global divisions.
IBM recorded only a 4% increase in its year-over-year revenues with an overall total revenue of $61.9 billion. Both its software and consulting services also only earned single-digit percentage growths.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has also been reported disclosing plans of "massively upskilling" nearly 8,000 with AI.
Much like other tech competitors in the industry, IBM has started leaning more into AI technology as it develops better models for its services and integrates them into the company's operations.
Tech Industry Layoffs Continue Amid AI Fears
IBM has joined the growing number of tech industry layoffs in 2024 as fears for AI replacing workers increase.
According to job cuts tracker Layoffs.fyi, nearly 50,000 staffers have already been laid off since the start of the year, nearing the monumental record last year.
At least 200 companies have been confirmed to launch major job cuts, including Amazon, Google, Meta, and Apple.
The International Monetary Fund has earlier alerted industries, world leaders, and the public that the continuous unregulated development and distribution of AI "expose" at least 40% of the total jobs in the work to its impact.
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