Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman on Thursday said that most of the tasks performed in white-collar jobs will be fully automated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the next 12 to 18 months.
In an interview with Financial Times, Suleyman said that white-collar jobs like lawyers, accountants and project manager which involve sitting down at a computer, will be fully automated by an AI.
He also gave the reference of software engineering, where professionals are reportedly using AI to assist with the vast majority of their code production. He said that in this scenario, the role of engineers is now shifted to doing “strategic” stuff, like architecting and putting things into production. This shift in job role has taken place in last six months, the expert said.
AI models can code better than most humans
Further, he said that today there are AI models that can code better than the vast majority of human coders, “maybe even all of them to date.”
Suleyman also highlighted that creating a new model will become as simple as “creating a podcast or writing a blog.” Institutions or organisations would be able to design an AI that suits their requirement.
AI agents will further be able to handle workflows of large institutions within the next two to three years, he said in the interview.
Microsoft’s mission to build superintelligence
Talking about his vision for Microsoft, Suleyman said that his mission is to build a superintelligence. A few months ago, the company re negotiated long-term relationship with OpenAI, extending the IP license till 2032, he said.
“We also decided this was the moment we have to set about delivering true AI self-sufficiency,” he said.
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For Microsoft, Suleyman talked about developing their own foundation models of AI, which will have a good training team and will organise and sort all data.
These comments by the Microsoft AI boss come amid concerns that AI will replace human tasks and lead to widespread layoffs. Earlier, Amazon, in a blog post, informed layoffs affecting as many as 16,000 corporate jobs amid “rising competition over AI.”
In a blog post last year, Microsoft said that it has signed a new agreement with OpenAI, building on a ‘strengthening partnership’ between both organisations.
The agreement involved OpenAI to continue as Microsoft’s frontier model partner and extension of exclusive IP rights with Microsoft. Both companies have been in a partnership since 2019 to advance the artificial intelligence efforts.
