Microsoft AI chief walks back comments about AI taking over white-collar work

Jun 09, 2026 09:54 PM - 2 hours ago 52

Emma Roth

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, user tech, crypto, societal media, and overmuch more. Previously, she was a writer and editor astatine MUO.

Microsoft AI caput Mustafa Suleyman is stepping backmost his statement astir AI automating jobs done by white-collar workers, including lawyers, accountants, and task managers. During an section of Decoder connected Monday, Suleyman says he meant AI will thief these workers complete tasks, alternatively than do their jobs:

Sending an email, having a speech pinch a colleague, putting together a PowerPoint — sub-tasks will progressively go digitized, automated, and we tin fundamentally make much and much of them. That does not needfully mean that the domiciled goes distant astatine all. It conscionable intends that the activity tin beryllium done faster and much efficiently, which is coming often activity that is rather rote, is rather manual, is rather labor-intensive, and is time-consuming. And truthful the earthy progression of exertion is to make your life easier, faster, little clash for much seamlessness.

The Financial Times included Suleyman’s original connection successful a February report, wherever he said “white-collar work, wherever you’re sitting down astatine a computer, either being a lawyer aliases an accountant aliases a task head aliases a trading personification — astir of those tasks will beryllium afloat automated by an AI wrong the adjacent 12 to 18 months.”

When asked astir this quote connected Decoder, Suleyman argues that there’s “a very important distinction” betwixt tasks and jobs. “I said ‘tasks’ successful the quote that you’ve conscionable said,” Suleyman says. “So that does not mean jobs… Jobs and roles are the broader category, and tasks are the components of that.”

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