While the artificial intelligence industry touts that AI will replace entry-level jobs, not every company is scaling back hiring these positions. In IBM’s case, it’s going all in.
Hardware giant IBM plans to triple entry-level hiring in the U.S. in 2026, according to reporting from Bloomberg. Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s chief human resource officer, announced the initiative at Charter’s Leading with AI Summit on Tuesday.
“And yes, it’s for all these jobs that we’re being told AI can do,” LaMoreaux said.
These jobs will look different than the entry-level jobs IBM used to offer, she explained. According to LaMoreaux, she went through and changed the descriptions for these entry-level jobs so they were less focused on areas AI can actually automate — like coding — and more focused on people-forward areas like engaging with customers.
This strategy makes sense. Even if an enterprise like IBM doesn’t necessarily need the same amount of entry-level talent that it did before, fostering less experienced workers helps ensure these employees have the skills needed for the higher-level roles down the road.
IBM didn’t specify how many people they would be hiring in this initiative. TechCrunch reached out to IBM for more information on the hiring plans.
This year could be a pivotal one regarding what the impact of AI on the hiring market will look like. An MIT study in 2025 estimated that 11.7% of jobs could likely already be automated by AI. A TechCrunch survey found that multiple investors think 2026 will start to show AI’s potential impact on the labor market — despite not being asked about labor specifically.
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