Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman warns AI could automate most white-collar jobs within next 12 to 18 months

Amid accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and mounting layoffs across sectors, Microsoft AI Chief Executive Officer Mustafa Suleyman has warned that AI could replace a large share of white-collar jobs within the next 12 to 18 months. 

In an interview with the Financial Times, Suleyman said, “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.” 

Disruption will be vast across sectors 

He cautioned that the disruption would extend beyond coders and software engineers to lawyers, accountants, project managers, and marketing professionals. Over the next two to three years, he expects AI agents to integrate more deeply into institutional workflows, coordinating tasks, and taking increasingly autonomous actions as they continue to learn and improve. 

Suleyman also pointed to a sharp fall in barriers to AI development. “Creating a new model is going to be like creating a podcast or writing a blog,” he said. “It is going to be possible to design an AI that suits your requirements for every institutional organisation and person on the planet," he added, reported Financial Times. 

His remarks come at a time when enterprises are rapidly deploying AI tools. Recently, Anthropic’s Claude model unsettled stock markets, raising concerns over the outlook for Software-as-a-Service firms such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. 

Microsoft pushes for ‘true self-sufficiency’ in AI 

To stay competitive, Microsoft is pursuing what Suleyman described as “true self-sufficiency” in AI, reducing reliance on OpenAI. “We have to develop our own foundation models, which are at the absolute frontier, with gigawatt-scale computers and some of the very best AI training teams in the world,” Suleyman told the Financial Times. 

Microsoft holds nearly a 27% stake in the ChatGPT maker, valued at $135 billion, with access to its models secured until at least 2032. The company is also backing other developers such as Anthropic and Mistral, while accelerating its own in-house models, expected to launch this year. 

The tech major has forecast capital expenditure of $140 billion for the fiscal year ending June as it scales AI infrastructure.