Tripling down on talent. 37% of companies plan to replace entry-level roles with AI, but IBM is doing the exact opposite. The tech giant recently announced it's tripling U.S. entry-level hiring in 2026 — across every department. But these aren’t the same roles as last year.
Rethinking entry-level roles. In response to AI, IBM is overhauling how its junior employees work. Instead of assigning new hires to mundane tasks that AI can now automate, the company is placing them in strategic, customer-facing roles that it doesn't trust AI to handle.
It’s a long-term talent arbitrage play. IBM’s chief human resources officer believes that slashing early-career hiring saves money today, but will create a mid-level manager shortage in 3 to 5 years. When that hits, companies will be forced to poach externally — which is costlier, slower, and harder to integrate. IBM is locking in tomorrow's leaders, today.
The contrarian bet. IBM is betting big that humans (especially younger, more tech-savvy employees) will still matter in an AI world. And the strategy passes the logic test: if AI makes employees more productive, wouldn’t you want to have more supercharged employees on your team?