Microsoft AI division head Mustafa Suleyman has a dire warning: white-collar jobs will perish or be automated within 12-18 months, putting accountants, lawyers, and marketers out of jobs.
Suleyman’s comment
has amplified what tech leaders such as Dario Amodei have been saying or predicting for the last few years, that AI will do those tasks that have been done by humans only until now.
Suleyman told the Financial Times that roles including accounting, legal work, marketing, and project management are vulnerable to being replaced or automated by AI. He said that software engineers are already using AI-assisted coding for large portions of their daily output.
He further stated to FT that AI will have capabilities to handle most of the white-collar tasks being done by humans before 2027.
Suleyman pointed to the rapid rise in computing power as a major warning sign that AI could eventually replace a large number of professionals. As computing capabilities continue to grow, he said AI models may soon outperform most human programmers in coding tasks. Shumer and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have also spoken about their concern — and even sadness — over how quickly AI is making years of human expertise feel outdated.
While AI is currently being used mainly to improve productivity, Suleyman believes the technology is moving rapidly from assisting humans to replacing parts of their work altogether.
He said that within the next two to three years, AI “agents” could begin handling workflows inside companies, coordinating tasks and making decisions with very little human involvement.
Suleyman also predicted that building AI systems will soon become much easier and more mainstream. Comparing it to creating digital content, he said designing a custom AI model could eventually become as simple as starting a podcast or writing a blog, allowing organisations and individuals to build AI tools tailored to their own needs.
