As IBM Pushes For More Automation, Its AI Simply Not Up To the Job of Replacing Staff (theregister.com) 15
An anonymous reader shares a report: IBM's plan to replace thousands of roles with AI presently looks more like outsourcing jobs to India, at the expense of organizational competency. That view of Big Blue was offered to The Register after our report on the IT giant's latest layoffs, which resonated so strongly with several IBM employees that they contacted The Register with thoughts on the job cuts. Our sources have asked not to be identified to protect their ongoing relationships with Big Blue. Suffice to say they were or are employed as senior technologists in business units that span multiple locations and were privy to company communications: These are not views from the narrow entrance to a single cubicle. We're going to refer to three by the pseudonyms Alex, Blake, and Casey.
"I always make this joke about IBM," said Alex. "It is: 'IBM doesn't want people to work for them.' Every six months or so they are doing rounds of [Resource Actions -- IBM-speak for layoffs] or forcing folks into impossible moves, which result in separation." That's consistent with CEO Arvind Krishna's commitment last year to replace around 7,800 jobs with AI. But our sources say Krishna's plan is on shaky ground: IBM's AI isn't up to the job of replacing people, and some of the people who could fix that have been let go. Alex observed that over the past four years, IBM management has constantly pushed for automation and the use of AI. "With AI tools writing that code for us ... why pay for senior-level staff when you can promote a youngster who doesn't really know any better at a much lower price?" he said. "Plus, once you have a seasoned programmer write code that is by law the company's IP and it is fed into an AI library, it basically learns it and the author is no longer needed." But our sources tell us that scenario has yet to be realized inside IBM.
"I always make this joke about IBM," said Alex. "It is: 'IBM doesn't want people to work for them.' Every six months or so they are doing rounds of [Resource Actions -- IBM-speak for layoffs] or forcing folks into impossible moves, which result in separation." That's consistent with CEO Arvind Krishna's commitment last year to replace around 7,800 jobs with AI. But our sources say Krishna's plan is on shaky ground: IBM's AI isn't up to the job of replacing people, and some of the people who could fix that have been let go. Alex observed that over the past four years, IBM management has constantly pushed for automation and the use of AI. "With AI tools writing that code for us ... why pay for senior-level staff when you can promote a youngster who doesn't really know any better at a much lower price?" he said. "Plus, once you have a seasoned programmer write code that is by law the company's IP and it is fed into an AI library, it basically learns it and the author is no longer needed." But our sources tell us that scenario has yet to be realized inside IBM.
That's concerning (Score:2)
I hope they aren't planning to have AI write code for their operating systems.
Re: (Score:3)
Everything will be sold. They actually sold off z/VSE to a third party company. I expect they'll eventually do the same with the mainframe division but still keep churning out patents because that's where the money's at, still.
Re: (Score:2)
IBM doesn't write operating systems anymore, they write support contracts for PHB's.
Maybe they can train their salesbot on Dilbert.
PHBs outsource people who actually got work done (Score:3)
and then replace them with people who just behave like they're getting work done. It's the ultimate evolution into a cargo cult from an organization that used to practice engineering. The problem? the people doing the measuring are morons.
If $1000 bolt and $10 bolt seem to be doing the same job, replace the $1000 bolt with the $10 bolt, and give yourself a bonus and a raise with the cost savings. The problem then is when your $1M machine starts breaking down because the $10 bolts are shearing off at inconvenient time, and the service contracts you had your customer buy (which made you money when they didn't have to call you for servicing) now cost you all of your profit and then some because you now need to dispatch technicians with backordered parts.
Replacing senior engineers with AI + junior coders is a shit move. When the AI breaks down, are the junior coders going to know how to fix it? Or are you going to have to outsource what you are claiming as your core competency now too? As a customer why don't I just hire the people you are going to for help, since you're just a useless collection of 1st and 2nd tier tech support, a bunch of underpaid technicians, and a useless mass of middle and upper management overhead?
I hate to say it, but at this point Oracle is starting to sound more competent than IBM...
Re: PHBs outsource people who actually got work do (Score:2)
Maybe? (Score:2)
Maybe IBM needs more data centers [slashdot.org].
For the last 20 years (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Back in the day, I worked for an Austin dot.com that IBM made a huge offer for 50%. Our CEO did not take it. Hubris.
In any case, at that time I worked out the average $ of IP per IBM employee and it was on the order of $400K. Now I suspect it is much lower, I think Watson was the beginning of the end. Can't think of any thing of intellectual value out of IBM.
Re: For the last 20 years (Score:3)
Computer Science (Score:4, Interesting)
The absolute state of compsci, compeng and related fields has got to be unique in its idiotic and schizophrenic capacity for bludgeoning people with facts and math on the one hand, yet simultaneously engaging in levels of magical thinking that would make a scientology acolyte blush.
I am a big fan of Lisp, Scheme and functional languages in general, read up on Symbolics Lisp Machines or Knight machines if you ever want to get depressed about the direction the industry COULD have taken.
It always makes me sad that the AI winter more or less put the final nail in the coffins of these cool ideas, but now I am eagerly looking forward for the next AI winter.
At least this time it will only he LLMs that get decimated and not legitimate AI research.
An overloaded acronym? (Score:1)
As in "IBM's plan to replace thousands of roles with assorted Indians"?
Re: (Score:1)
Or "Actual Indians"
International Business Machines (Score:2)
IBM is not people.
Soylent Green is people
Interesting read (Score:2)
This post me wondering what IBM actually makes anymore, or is it just all services?
Sad, that for a company so visible and important as they once were, that even if they are still busy and profitable, that they are largely irrelevant or invisible to the average non-corporate person.
So, I searched "does ibm manufacture anything anymore".
A link pointed to a Quora thread. Many or most responses are by IBM'ers, many waving the Big Blue flag.
But, one I found particularly interesting. Follow this link :
https://w [quora.com]
Such a surprise (Score:2)
And once again, demented "management" could not separate solid vendor assurances from vendor hallucinations.
Although, having met some IBM consultants, I am surprised that AI is even dumber than they are...