Singapore’s biggest bank says it expects to cut 4,000 roles over the next three years as artificial intelligence (AI) takes on more work currently done by humans.<\/p>\n
“The reduction in workforce will come from natural attrition as temporary and contract roles roll off over the next few years,” a DBS spokesperson told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Permanent staff are not expected to be affected by the cuts. The bank’s outgoing chief executive Piyush Gupta also said it expects to create around 1,000 new AI-related jobs.<\/p>\n
It makes DBS one of the first major banks to offer details on how AI will affect its operations.<\/p>\n
The company did not say how many jobs would be cut in Singapore or which roles would be affected.<\/p>\n
DBS currently has between 8,000 and 9,000 temporary and contract workers. The bank employs a total of around 41,000 people.<\/p>\n
Last year, Mr Gupta said DBS had been working on AI for over a decade.<\/p>\n
“We today deploy over 800 AI models across 350 use cases, and expect the measured economic impact of these to exceed S$1bn ($745m; \u00a3592m) in 2025,” he added.<\/p>\n
Mr Gupta is set to leave the firm at the end of March. Current deputy chief executive Tan Su Shan will replace him.<\/p>\n
The ongoing proliferation of AI technology has put its benefits and risks under the spotlight, with\u00a0the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saying in 2024<\/a>\u00a0that it is set to affect nearly 40% of all jobs worldwide.<\/p>\n The IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that “in most scenarios, AI will likely worsen overall inequality”.<\/p>\n