While AI will replace entry-level jobs in the AI industry, not every company is cutting back on hiring for these positions. In the case of IBM, everything goes in.
Hardware giant IBM plans to triple entry-level hiring in the US by 2026, Bloomberg reports. Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s chief human resources officer, announced the initiative on Tuesday at Charter’s Leading with AI Summit.
“And yes, it’s all these jobs that we’ve been told AI can do,” LaMoreaux said.
Those jobs will look different than the entry-level jobs that IBM has been offering, she explained. According to LaMoreaux, she went through and changed the job descriptions of those jobs at a basic level, so they focused less on areas that AI can actually automate — like coding — and more on human-centric areas like customer interaction.
This strategy makes sense. While a business like IBM doesn’t necessarily need the same amount of entry-level talent as it used to, supporting less experienced workers helps ensure those employees have the skills needed for higher-level roles.
IBM did not specify how many people will be hired in the initiative. TechCrunch has asked IBM for more information on the hiring plans.
This year could be pivotal in terms of how AI impacts the recruitment market. A 2025 MIT study estimates that 11.7% of jobs could likely already be automated by artificial intelligence. A TechCrunch survey found that many investors think 2026 will begin to show the potential impact of AI on the job market — despite not being asked about jobs specifically.
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