As organizations race to adopt AI, questions remain about its effect on jobs. Four CIOs and an industry analyst share whether AI is replacing workers or helping teams do more.
When asked whether AI has replaced workers in their organizations, CIOs and an analyst said:
AI is augmenting employees, not replacing them.
Most organizations are using AI to boost productivity and automate routine work.
Big tech layoffs don't reflect the reality in most industries.
Companies may be cutting costs to fund AI investments, rather than replacing workers with AI.
CIOs expect jobs and team structures to evolve but say people who can use AI will remain essential.
AI may be changing how work gets done, but many CIOs say it is not replacing workers.
Organizations across industries are racing to adopt AI to improve productivity, automate routine tasks and gain a competitive edge. At the same time, high-profile layoffs and claims that AI can replace knowledge workers have fueled concerns about the technology's effect on jobs. For CIOs, the question is whether AI is becoming a substitute for employees or a tool that helps existing teams do more.
TechTarget asked four CIOs and an industry analyst whether their organizations have laid off employees to replace them with AI. Their responses suggest most organizations continue to view AI as a way to augment workers, improve efficiency and reshape how work gets done rather than reduce head count.
Here's what they had to say.
Has your organization laid off people to replace them with AI?
"No, we haven't laid anybody off to replace them with AI -- nor do we plan on doing that. We don't see AI in that way. We see AI as an augmentation for us and as a force multiplier for the talent that we do have.
It's really important to us that we use it and use it in the right way. But replacing workers hasn't been part of our plans."
-- Steve Bronson, CIO, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits
"I live in a world that makes this question interesting on two fronts. I'm in the higher education space and in the business of educating folks in technology.
All these companies are laying off people because of AI? Not so much. Companies are laying off people to make room on their expense line for AI.
Chris CampbellCIO, DeVry University
Also, we are not seeing any reduction in the number of open positions or postings. You might hear people say, 'Oh, they don't need developers anymore because Claude's doing it.' Well, there sure are a lot of openings for developers out there. We're not seeing the reality in the marketplace match up to the rhetoric, regardless of what they're saying on their earnings calls.
And straight up -- no, our approach is not to reduce head count to fund AI. We focus on using AI to enhance productivity, force-multiply what folks are doing and automate low-value work. This allows our teams to spend time on higher-value care for customers.
We are driving toward efficiency and using AI, but it's just another tool in the belt. Case in point: Our university has been holding flat on tuition for seven years. We have not raised tuition for the students. That's a big part of who we are in our DNA. That puts pressure on the expense line, and as we grow, things like advisors' portfolio size also grow. So, we must find ways to make that feasible and effective, and AI is one of the tools we use to do that."
-- Chris Campbell, CIO, DeVry University
"We see it as a competitive advantage to help drive efficiency for our adjusters and our examiners. It gives them information at their fingertips when they need it and speeds up the process of a claim.
The way we're looking at it is the outcome is better efficiency, easier ramp-up time for our adjusters and examiners, but also clients and claimants get a better experience because we're processing their claims faster by giving them the tools they need."
-- Sean Safieh, CIO, Sedgwick, a global claims management company
When I read about some of these technology companies saying they're doing it, I think there is some marketing angle to that.
Brian JacksonPrincipal research director, Info-Tech Research Group
"In discussions with my clients, talking to CIOs in a lot of different industries, I haven't had somebody come to me and share their plans to lay off a bunch of staff and replace them with AI. When I read about some of these technology companies saying they're doing it, I think there is some marketing angle to that. It sounds a lot better when you do a round of layoffs to say it's because you're so good at optimizing your processes with AI instead of, 'Oh, we're changing our focus or the revenue didn't come in in that area.' You have to read through the lines sometimes there."
-- Brian Jackson, principal research director, Info-Tech Research Group
"It's not, 'Is AI going to replace a person?' People using AI will be the ones we'll have in the future, and that will manifest in a variety of ways. In way number one, we may organize a little differently. In way number two, it may mean you can do more, and your life is a bit better because you're focusing on what you want. Some roles may change or go away, and we will train people to take on the other roles we have.
But it is also incredibly early in this journey -- the technology is new, and we're learning how it works and what the right operating models are. The world will change, and we will see team structures evolve, but the things that have challenged us in the past are:
Do we have people who know how to use the technology?
Do we have the right ideas to go after?
Do we have the brand to support that?
Those three things are what will be important in the future. I'm going to need people who know how to use AI and have the ideas and the judgment -- we already have the brand. It's a bit early for us to know exactly what will happen, but we do know there will be differences and changes, and that this technology will be part of everything people do going forward."
-- Gill Haus, CIO, JPMorgan Chase
Tim Murphy is a site editor and writer for the IT Strategy team at TechTarget.
