Microsoft AI Chief Predicts Most White-Collar Tasks Automated Within 18 Months

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman stated that AI will reach human-level performance on most professional tasks within the next 18 months. He said tasks performed while sitting at a computer, including accounting, legal work, marketing, and project management, will be fully automated in that timeframe.

Suleyman pointed to exponential increases in computational power as the main factor behind the expected change. He said models will soon code better than most human programmers and that organizations will be able to create custom AI systems for specific job functions.

Use in Professional Services A 2025 Thomson Reuters report found lawyers, accountants, and auditors are using AI mainly for document review and routine analysis. Productivity gains have remained marginal, and one study by the nonprofit Model Evaluation and Threat Research found AI tools increased task time for software developers by 20 percent.

Employment consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported 49,135 AI-related job cuts so far this year. Microsoft eliminated 15,000 positions last year, though the company did not cite AI as the reason. Software stocks fell sharply in February after Anthropic and OpenAI introduced agentic AI systems for enterprise use.

Suleyman said his goal at Microsoft AI is to develop independent foundation models that reach superintelligence without relying on OpenAI.