IBM

IBM has been living for decades that no one could kill COBOL. Anthropic has other plans

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IBM shares fell about 13.2% yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange for a simple reason: Anthropic advertisement that its AI model, Claude, can be used to modernize systems that are based on the legendary COBOL programming language. And that is something that seemed virtually impossible. The immortal language. As Anthropic itself indicates, it is estimated that COBOL manages 95% of all transactions made at ATMs in the US. A 2022 study revealed that there are 800 billion lines of COBOL code that continue to operate in production systems on a daily basis. That almost no one uses anymore. Faced with this reality is another equally powerful one: almost no one programs in COBOL anymore, because this language has been with us for 65 years and has ended up being replaced by modern programming languages. The question, of course, is who is in charge of those millions of lines of code if there are almost no human programmers who can do it. Anthropic itself made it clear: “the number of people who understand COBOL decreases every year.” AI to the rescue. That’s where Claude, Anthropic’s family of generative AI models, comes in. According to this company, Claude is now capable of “modernizing” COBOL despite how difficult and expensive it was to carry out something like that. IBM has been trying for years and in fact applied that same recipebut its AI (Watson) does not seem to have managed too much progress. Claude helps, but there must be a human expert supervising. At Anthropic they promise that their AI model is capable of reading the entire code base of a COBOL project, identifying entry points, execution paths through subroutines, mapping data flows and documenting dependencies. They highlight, however, that with the supervision of a human expert this can help modernize and polish all types of COBOL-based systems. Critical systems. Of course, the question is whether AI will actually deliver on that promise, especially when we’re talking about absolutely critical systems used in financial transactions. According to Anthropic “the modernization of the code legacy It has been stagnant for years because understanding it cost more than rewriting it. “AI reverses that equation.” COBOL is no longer IBM’s ace in the hole. It’s hard to know how much of IBM’s business depended on COBOL systems, but it’s certainly a relevant part. In 2025 the company achieved revenue of $67.5 billion. About 45% comes from software. The rest is consulting and infrastructure, and this last division is where the IT business is included. IBM Z mainframesclosely linked to COBOL systems. It’s reasonable to think that revenues dependent on mainframes and COBOl are around 20% of IBM’s revenues (and probably more in profits). AI and the SaaSpocalypse. What happened with IBM and COBOL is the latest case of a software that seemed to have a long-term future but with AI may not have such a long-term future. Investors now seem to think that AI will replace many of these systems and SaaS platforms. It is indeed what has been called “SaaSpocalypse” in reference to the stock market falls of this type of companies in recent months: Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit and Atlassian have suffered notable falls in the stock market that are around 30-40% on average. But. This investor panic that is being experienced contrasts with the current reality: AI models are proving to be able to do surprising things in the field of programming, but they are far from being perfect. The code must be reviewed, and IBM itself he already made it clear In a 1979 training manual: “A computer can never be held responsible. Therefore, it should never make an administrative decision.” IBM has already survived other crises. The blue giant has suffered a blow to the stock market, but it is one of those technology companies that have managed to recover and resist all the attacks of an industry that is normally merciless. IBM itself also has its modernization solutions for its clients, and some analysts they are clear that in fact IBM will make more money than before if COBOL finally goes away. In Xataka | Old programmers never die, and Silicon Valley is realizing that

Tech companies don’t want new graduates because they believe that AI is going to annihilate them. IBM is hiring non-stop

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The business world is so terrified of AI that recent graduate hiring is in crisis. However, there is a company that is just going in the opposite direction: IBM not only has not frozen these hirings, but is tripling them. And his argument is powerful. IBM wants new graduates. “We are tripling our hiring of junior positions,” explained Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s top human resources officer, in a interview at Charter. In fact, he highlighted, those positions they are filling “are for software developers and for all those jobs that they tell us AI can do.” It is a surprising statement, especially considering that the market trend is just the opposite. Unemployment among recent graduates—and among young people—is at record levels in the last decade in the United States. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The problem of unemployment in Gen Z. The young people of the generation Z (Born between 1997-2012 approximately) face one of the most complex times when looking for a first job. In the United States, the unemployment rate for recent graduates is at 5.6%, the highest in the decade except for the time of the pandemic. Managers of technology companies have been warning for some time that AI is going to greatly impact work, and especially in the field of programming. Junior profiles with a new focuseither. While competitors appear to show growing interest in replacing entry-level positions with automation — 37% plan to do so according to Korn Ferry—, IBM is changing the mentality. Newbie software engineers won’t spend their days chipping away at routine code that an AI can generate. Instead, they will focus on interacting with clients and monitoring model results. AI no longer replaces the junior, but forces him to be more strategic from day one. IBM is not the only one to think this way. Although it seems that the trend towards automation is clear, IBM is not alone in this flight forward. Dropbox is doing the same, and its head of human resources, Melanie Rosenwasser, believes that Gen Z has a fundamental advantage: they are better prepared to work with AI than veterans. According to her, “it’s as if (the young people of Gen Z) were on their bikes in the Tour de France while the rest of us are on training wheels,” she said. on Bloomberg. But. IBM’s move is not without a certain cynicism. The company made this announcement a week after carry out a mass layoff to focus on growth areas. It is as if they have created a revolving door in which they have removed expensive seniority to let in cheaper youth. AI as an amplifier. Be that as it may, the CEO of IBM, Arvind Krishna, defends this strategy – logical – indicating that AI is not a substitute for human capacity, but rather an amplifier. The speech, whether we believe it or not, represents a unique commitment, especially now that companies seem to propose that they will do the same with many fewer employees. For IBM, the bet is on loyalty and knowledge cultivated from the base instead of subordinating everything to algorithms. “Developers, developers, developers!”. At the .NET event that Microsoft organized in 1999, the famous viral moment occurred in which an overexcited and sweaty Ballmer sang that from “Developers, developers, developers!” non-stop. The company was trying to attract talent again with that speech, but in reality that work had been intense years before. Hiring recent graduates worked very well for Microsoft. Steven Sinofsky, who led the development of Windows 7, told on Twitter how Microsoft became what it was thanks to its strategy of hiring recent graduates—even if they had not completed their degree. The development of Office, for example, was especially nourished by these young people, but that strategy was stopped. As Sinofsky explains, “The ‘dark times’ were accentuated by a forced pause in hiring recent graduates, and the consequences were felt five years later.” In Xataka | “They are much more daring”: Gen Z is overturning all labor consensus in its massive entry into work

IBM closed its factory in Valencia 30 years ago. Now he has returned with AI and technology talent formation under his arm

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Thirty years after close your historic factory of electronic circuits in La Pobla de Vallbona, IBM has announced his return to Valencia with a renewed and strategic commitment. The technological multinational has created a “Digital Sales” center in the Innovation Incubator The terminal hubin the Navy of Valencia. The new IBM initiative in the city of Turia is raised as an “erasmus” for the acceleration of the New technological talent of the company in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Although the space allows to house 250 employees, the company will begin this new stage with the creation of one hundred new direct jobs for the implementation of an international training program for young professionals of the technological firm. The number of employees will increase in the future, but IBM has not advanced any concrete figure. The new IBM stage in Valencia IBM has decided to return to Valencia with a completely different vision from that of three decades ago. If its presence was linked to the manufacture of hardware, now the company is committed to advanced services and commercial management of technological solutions Based on artificial intelligencestorage, cloud services and automation. As its name affects, the new “Digital Sales” center will focus on promoting the skills of its employees of the Departments of Commercial Relations and Sales, integrating into the area of ​​influence of The Terminal Hub. Horacio Morell, president of IBM Spain, has indicated the importance of returning in an enclave full of incubators and innovation nurseries, consolidating the city as A pole of attraction For him International Technological Talent. “From these facilities, we will connect talent, technology and ecosystem to help companies accelerate the adoption of avant -garde solutions in AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity and automation,” Morell stood out in the presentation of the project. An international “erasmus” of technological talent The great novelty of this center is its approach to the Talent formation and acceleration international. IBM has launched a program that selects young professionals in their countries of origin and Transfer to Valencia for a year of training Intensive in new technologies. During this period, participants not only receive theoretical training, but also actively work with real clients, acquiring practical experience and key commercial skills. According to Gabrielle Crisman, director of the center, “the objective is to train the new IBM sales executives that will offer customer and agile experiences promoted by technology.” “After that period, most will return to places of origin to develop their work,” Morell said. The mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, highlighted the importance of this program for Youth employment: “Young people need to find quality work and projects like this help us to achieve this goal,” collected The Spanish. In addition, the company has remarked that the center represents “an opportunity to newly titled young peopleprofessionals with experience in technology and digital sales experts who wish to develop their career in a global company, without leaving Valencia. “ IBM has bet again on Valencia for this strategic project for several reasons. Among the most outstanding factors are excellent living conditions and climate of the city as an incentive for the participants in the training program. On the other hand, from IBM the institutional support of the City Council stands out, the Chamber of Commerceuniversities and other business organizations. “The election of Valencia, by IBM, shows that Valencia has established itself as the technological hub par excellence in Europe,” declared to the The economist Mayor María José Catalá. In Xataka | IBM fired 8,000 workers to replace them with AI. What I did not expect was to hire many others … for the AI Image | The Terminal Hub, IBM

IBM fired 8,000 workers to replace them with AI. What I did not expect was to hire many others … for the AI

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The chickens that enter through the chickens that come out. IBM was one of the main protagonists in the Waves of mass layoffs globally Two years ago, and now it is again for the consequence of making this decision: having even more workers. The layoffs. In January 2023 IBM joined the Gray days In the technological sector. Google announced the departure of 12,000 of its employeesX (old twitter) fired 83% of its workforce in Spainand Spotify said goodbye to 600 workers. On the IBM side, I know They completely paralyzed hiring and the dismissal of 7,800 workers was formalized. IBM CEO itself explained That his company would cover artificial intelligence, affirming at least 30% of its workforce was replaceable. The consequences. IBM talked about how they could do without workers by replacing them for AI, but not about the people necessary to operate that AI. One of the executive directors of the technology, Arvind Krishna, collects to WSJ that the number of employees has increased after the wave of layoffs. “Although we have done a huge amount of work within IBM to take advantage of AI and automation in certain business workflows, our total employment has actually risen, because we have managed to obtain more investment capacity to cover other areas,” Krishna told The Wall Street Journal. The company has fired workers to replace them with artificial intelligence, but has also increased hiring in programmers and sales personnel. They have not transcended concrete numbers about how many hiring there have been and if they have really covered or not the 7,800 layoffs. The automation to command. IBM has been fully trusting more than three years Askhran artificial intelligence solution that began to take shape in 2021 and that Today they use for processes related to human resources management (payrolls, employee documentation, vacation managed). The company claims to have automated 94% of RRHH’s routine tasks, achieving productive improvements worth 3.5 billion dollars in recent years in more than 70 business areas. This significant saving in human resources, according to the company, is allowing them to invest in other areas. An AI-FIRST company. On the IBM website we have detailed The official position of the company with AI. It is worthy of a Black Mirror chapter, but perfectly summarizes the state of AI in the workplace. “As the chatbot learned and became smarter, our NPS (Net Promoter Score) began to increase. We added more functionalities, along with the ability to perform transactions. Askhr evolved to a digital assistant that allowed managers to transfer employees to another manager or initiate the quarterly promotion process. Everything was done directly in Askhr With just a few clicks. In 2024, Askhr He managed more than 11.5 million interactions; 94% of them were resolved within the platform. That means that, of all the questions asked, only 6% needed to be derived from Askhr To a specialized partner in HR. The current NPS is +74, so we have traveled a long way from that -35. There are almost 90 automation integrated into Askhrand more on their way. Thanks to this, managers can make HR transactions 75% faster than before. According to IMB, automating processes with AI has allowed you to be faster and more efficient, with a minimum need to derive HR personnel processes. One of the keys is in the evolution of the assistant: they have been using it in tests since 2017, and in 2025 it is already replacing humans. IBM is not alone. The companies replacing workers for AI was not an experiment of 2023. There are already companies that have dispensed with 90% of their customer service departments by Chatbots, ensuring that it was the right decision. Duolingo started 2025 With replacement of human teamsome already shot them through the cylinder head and They ended looking for programmers on LinkedIn. AI and its labor impact It is especially linked to process automation. Reports like ‘The Future of Jobs Report 2025’prepared by World Economic Forum, hope that by 2030 the Process automation destroy about 92 million jobs. In Xataka | “I have three years of work”: more and more IA managers believe that AI will end up removing the position

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