Ever since OpenAI introduced the world to ChatGPT in 2022, interest in generative AI has reached new heights. While some people feel that the emerging technology will prove to be beneficial for people and aid them in their day-to-day lives, there is another section of people who have been saying that it will take away human jobs.
And an Infosys senior executive believes that generative AI will lead to decreased headcount in organisations. In other words, companies will be hiring fewer employees in the future thanks to AI.
Generative AI will lead to fewer hirings
Satish H C, executive vice-president and co-head (delivery), said according to a Business Standard report, that because of new technologies like generative AI (artificial intelligence), companies will need fewer employees in the future. He added that this shift will happen gradually over the next three to five years.
He further explained that as companies start using advanced technologies like generative AI more, they’ll become more efficient, and that means they won’t need as many people for traditional jobs. In simple terms, as technology becomes more important, companies might hire fewer people in the future, and this shift is expected to happen slowly over the next few years.
In another interview with Reuters, the Infosys senior executive had said that the company was also turning out to be “AI first.”
He had said, “At Infosys, I don’t think we were digital first. It took us a few years, but now that we have the hindsight of how we adapted to digital, we are adapting to AI much better and I think we are going AI first,” he said.
Company replaces 700 people with AI
A few companies have already started replacing some of their human workforce with AI. One such company that recently made headlines for its automation success is Klarna, a Swedish financial technology company.
The company revealed recently that its AI assistant has taken on the work that 700 employees used to do. This news comes a year after the company fired approximately a similar number of employees. The company had also faced massive criticism for the same.
When Klarna faced staff reductions, CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski pointed to economic uncertainties, worries about inflation, and the potential for an upcoming recession as reasons for the decision. Siemiatkowski had also received criticism for his handling of the situation, especially when he posted a spreadsheet on LinkedIn that listed the names of many laid-off employees. In response to questions from Fast Company about how the AI assistant’s productivity in human terms was calculated, Klarna clarified that this metric had no connection to the earlier staff reductions.
