CFO of $320 Billion Software Firm: AI Will Help Us 'Afford To Have Less People' (fortune.com)
- Reference: 0179521080
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/24/205220/cfo-of-320-billion-software-firm-ai-will-help-us-afford-to-have-less-people
- Source link: https://fortune.com/2025/09/24/sap-cfo-dominik-asam-320-billion-software-firm-ai-allow-workforce-reduction-but-if-done-wrong-could-be-business-catastrophe/
> At the $320 billion software giant SAP, there will likely be a need for fewer engineers to deliver the same -- or even greater -- output, according to the company's CFO Dominik Asam.
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> "There's more automation, simply," Asam told Business Insider. "There are certain tasks which are automated and for the same volume of output we can afford to have less people." As a C-suite exec at Europe's most valuable software company, Asam cautioned that this reality will only come true if the corporate world implements the technology properly. After all, a recent MIT study found that 95% of generative AI pilots have not met the mark. "I will be brutal. And I also say this internally. For SAP and any other software company, AI is a great catalyst. It can be either great or catastrophe," Asam warned. "It will be great if you do it well, if you are able to implement it and do it faster than others. If you are left behind, you will have a problem for sure. We work day and night to not fall behind."
[1] https://fortune.com/2025/09/24/sap-cfo-dominik-asam-320-billion-software-firm-ai-allow-workforce-reduction-but-if-done-wrong-could-be-business-catastrophe/
Re: (Score:1)
> all those AI hype men are feeding him?
Hype-women are more effective, spotting boobs reduces a man's IQ by 15%.
The single greatest focus of our ruling class (Score:3, Insightful)
Is eliminating their dependency on us.
AI is designed to allow wealth to access skill without skill accessing wealth.
Folks need to start deconstructing the Cold war bullshit their brains were programmed with and do it fast because there's not much time.
If you think you're safe you're not. They're coming for your 401k, your social security and the pills to keep you alive. Once they've got that your house is next.
These people want to be trillionaires and you're in their way.
Re: (Score:3)
> These people want to be trillionaires and you're in their way.
Well, I hope they are as delicious as they are greedy because not everyone going to simply starve to death to enable their greed.
Militarized police (Score:2)
You let the militarize the police already. And the police are on their side because the police are on the side of property and always have been.
So yeah with your little semi-automatic rifle feel free to try to get through the security Bill Gates has. And then if you manage to survive that with Bill Gates or whoever completely unscathed enjoy spending the rest of your life in a work camp. Or if they don't have any use for you in a work camp they can kill you and harvest your organs or use you for various
Re: (Score:2)
Everything depends on balance. If things become too unbalanced then not even a militarized police force can save you from an angry mob.
Besides, violence is stupid when there are such better ways to approach the problem.
Re:The single greatest focus of our ruling class (Score:4, Insightful)
> Is eliminating their dependency on us. AI is designed to allow wealth to access skill without skill accessing wealth.
I don't know that's necessarily true.
I've come to realize that what the rich need from "us" isn't for us to produce anything. It never was. They need us to consume . AI and robotics can theoretically produce everything except raw materials. But they don't consume anything that causes wealth.
Robots cannot (meaningfully) buy tens of thousands of iPhones. AI cannot (meaningfully) subscribe to a half-dozen streaming services. It's the human masses that cause demand. Supply without demand does not cause wealth.
Fewer (Score:2, Redundant)
CFO of $320 Billion Software Firm: AI Will Help Us 'Afford To Have Less People'
New Headline: CFO of $320 Billion Software Firm Doesn't Know The Difference Between "Less" and "Fewer"
Don't be a worker. (Score:2)
Be an owner. Own things. Own shares in companies that will make money. Instead of putting $300k into a 4 year degree put it into shares in tech companies.
Re: (Score:2)
Note: I am not saying don't get an education. Just that you can get a college level education for nearly free in most fields (except things that require physical skills like lab work -- and even that is possible via simulation in a lot of cases) for low cost or free.
If you can't be an owner due to lack of capital, then education but at community college where you can work on the side and purchase shares in companies so when the robots and computers take over all jobs you'll be owning a share in the output o
Re: (Score:1)
You think someone is going to lend an 18-year-old $300k to invest? Maybe you meant pwn things, and invest the proceeds of your ransomware.
Re: (Score:2)
Karl Marx was 80% right.
Framework for Revolutionary Tech (Score:2)
Here is a pretty typical framework for tech innovation. I will use cars as an example.
1) New Tech appears. Disruption happens. More jobs, but people realize old jobs will go away.
Cars invented. Lots of new employees hired to build cars. Everyone involved in the horse based transportation system feels a chill.
2) More people being hired, but old jobs start vanishing. Still more jobs than before, but everyone can see the writing on the wall. Multiple car companies appear. horse trainers, raisers, carriag
Re: (Score:2)
> Here is a pretty typical framework for tech innovation. I will use cars as an example.
Good explanation. One other thing to add is that if the new businesses and jobs don't appear, then the economy will go into a huge recession/depression, and all the expected profits from the new technology will disappear as the number of dollars and consumers for the new tech will crater.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually there was an explosion of jobs with the automation of elevators. Previously only a few luxury buildings could afford to have an elevator and operator, safety and reliability improvements along with automation put an elevator in every building. Automated elevators also allowed a huge boom in high rise building construction, previously most of New York City was buildings six or fewer floors tall.
Re: (Score:1)
5) People on those trips with those new cars, new jobs, all that new money. More policing of owners is needed. Civil forfeiture becomes a handy way to separate workers from their cash. More lawyers and judges are needed.
Re: (Score:2)
That is not how it works for AI.
Grammar, Mr Asam (Score:3)
[F]or the same volume of output we can afford to have fewer people.