IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI News | Hacker News Reader

IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI News

reuters.com

24 pointsthesecretceo17 comments

I’m curious how IBM has the metrics to know the productivity multiplier of AI well enough this far in advanced to accurately replace exactly 7800 jobs. Is the plan in place to also provide every surviving HR manager an OpenAI subscription? It seems to early to me but I also don’t have the time or resources to know or even guess the multiplier effects here

Then again maybe they’re just using AI as an excuse to get rid of these jobs? Kind of like they did with layoffs only to them outsource many of their departments to other countries for cost savings?

> I’m curious how IBM has the metrics to know the productivity multiplier of AI well enough this far in advanced to accurately replace exactly 7800 jobs.

That works out to about 2.5% of their worldwide employee count, which seems pretty conservative to me.

They asked Watson of course.

Galaxy brain: write a single news release that is simultaneously responsive to computing industry layoff trend, and LLM/AI trend.

“the PC-maker told the publication.”

Newsflash: IBM hasn’t made PCs in 18 years.

Maybe it was written by ChatGPT.

ChatGPT wouldn't make a mistake like that.

Why would it not? IBM still makes computers, just not personal computers. With how LLMs work, it's actually quite likely that it would via Bayesian inference. It's a next-word prediction model, mate.

Prompt: Is IBM a PC maker?

ChatGPT: IBM was one of the earliest and most influential personal computer makers, having introduced the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) in 1981. However, in the early 2000s, IBM sold its PC business to Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo. Since then, IBM has focused on providing enterprise-level hardware, software, and services, rather than personal computers for consumers. While IBM no longer produces PCs for the consumer market, the company does manufacture specialized computing systems for business and industrial use, such as mainframe computers, servers, and high-performance computing systems.

IBM is like that creepy recently divorced old uncle you have that thinks he is the epitome of cool after getting a tribal tattoo a few years after they went out of fashion

Without looking it up, I legitimately would not be able to tell you what IBM even does nowadays.

how do you improve shitty products and shitty service with AI? i dont get it.

That's the great part, you don't, but you also don't have to pay people.

What made you think there will be improvement?

Hasn't IBM had their own AI for years? Why is this a story now?

Because their AI is nowhere near as capable as GPT. It seems to be mostly only good for gimmicks like playing Jeopardy. No doubt they are working on their own LLM though.

broken headline

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