Barclays cutting 5,000 jobs as it increases reliance on AI

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorWhat a day to be in America!

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorBarclays, the big British bank, says it is cutting five thousand jobs, about five percent of its workforce, as it leans harder on artificial intelligence.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo that's the one-sentence version. A bank looked at its staff and its software and picked the software.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorRight. The BBC reports the bank says it's using more AI, and that leads to the five percent reduction.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentHow many people work there to begin with?

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorBloomberg says about ninety-three thousand globally at the end of last year. The bank expects to finish the cuts by the end of this year.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThis year? It's October.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThe Northwales Chronicle says about a thousand roles go in the first six months, and most of the losses are operational and functional jobs.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentFunctional. As opposed to the decorative ones.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorIt includes roles like developers, too. People who build the software are part of the cuts.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the tool is helping with the hiring plan. That's like a creator whose editing app now edits the creator out.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorHow did we get here? Barclays is nearing the end of a three-year strategy built on cost-cutting and bigger technology.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo this was in the plan.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThe chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, says it's the result of technology investments made over a number of years.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentWhat does the bank itself call the cuts?

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorCNBC has the quote: "organizational simplification and technology change efficiency driven by AI." That's a mouthful, but it sounds tidy!

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSimplification. Five thousand people, simplified.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorAnd here's the timing.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorBrit Brief says the announcement came with pre-tax profit up twelve percent to two point three billion pounds for the three months to September.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentProfit went up and the jobs went down. Same day.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorSupporters will say that's a bank getting efficient. Critics will say a healthy company is choosing machines over workers.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentAnd what's next? Because the workers are the ones refreshing their feeds right now.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorWatch that first thousand over six months, and whether other banks follow.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorBarclays says about two hundred million pounds of cost actions came in the third quarter.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo, one sentence again: the bank made more money, then handed five thousand jobs to its software.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorWell, I hope the AI knows where the good parking is, because that's where they'll all be.