Bank boss sorry after describing workers as 'lower value human capital'

Bank boss sorry after describing workers as 'lower value human capital'Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJemma CrewBusiness reporterPaul Yeung/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe boss of Standard Chartered has apologised after describing employees whose jobs are vulnerable to being replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) as "lower value human capital".Discussing how automation was likely to lead to thousands of job cuts at the bank at a recent conference, Bill Winters said it wasn't about cost cutting but "replacing, in some cases, lower value, human capital, with the financial capital and the investment capital that we're putting in".He later sought to contextualise the remarks via LinkedIn and said he was sorry for his wording, which had "caused upset to some colleagues".He said he was committed to helping staff "cope with the accelerating pace of change".The rise of AI tools has led to predictions of huge job losses, particularly for tech workers and graduates. Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, as well as financial services firms, have already blamed tens of thousands of layoffs on AI over the last year.In Winters's first post, he said he wanted to clear up what he said and why at the investors conference.He said the bank had shared its expectation that back office roles would be cut by about 15% over the next four years - about 7,800 roles.For years the bank has helped colleagues "whose roles may be displaced by automation to build the skills needed for new opportunities within our organisation", he said."In that context, I said that lower-value roles are more vulnerable to automation, and that we have a responsibility to help colleagues move into higher-value roles," he wrote."That is what a responsible employer should do, and I am proud that our track record in supporting internal transitions is strong."In a follow-up post, he said while he had received "a lot of...