White-Collar Jobs Face AI Disruption Within 18 Months: Microsoft AI Head

Chief of artificial intelligence at Microsoft, Mustafa Suleyman, has warned that most white‑collar roles that rely on computers could be automated within the next 12 to 18 months.

He informed that the company is building a “professional‑grade AGI”, that could automate majority of works done by lawyers, accountants, project managers and marketers.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Suleyman said Microsoft is racing to develop “professional‑grade AGI”, AI systems capable of performing nearly everything a human professional can do. He said the current shift in AI landscape would go beyond incremental productivity gains to produce structural displacement across knowledge‑based professions.

“White-collar work, where you’re sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer or an accountant or a project manager or a marketing person, most of those tasks will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18 months,” the report quoted Suleyman as saying.

He described Microsoft’s strategy to capture a larger share of the enterprise market by automating routine and repeatable tasks such as document drafting, data analysis and project coordination that currently require skilled employees.

He informed about Microsoft's plans to increase AI model productions to reduce reliance on OpenAI, following a revised agreement between the two companies.

Further, he said "creating a new model will be as simple as making a podcast or writing a blog,” adding that institutions and individuals could design AI tailored to their specific needs.

US tech giant Oracle plans to cut 20,000 to 30,000 jobs to expand its AI data‑centre capacity, while Amazon recently announced lay off 16,000 employees as part of its AI restructure plan.

A recent report from PwC India said artificial intelligence could contribute nearly $550 billion to India’s economy by 2035, across five priority sectors including agriculture, education, energy, healthcare and manufacturing.

The India AI Mission, launched in 2024 with a $1.2 billion funding, democratised access to computing resources, datasets, and talent development.