Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman reckons you'll be out of work within 18 months, courtesy of artificial intelligence. He said this to the FT with a straight face, despite predicting in April 2025 that AGI was actually a decade away. Pick a lane, Mustafa.
Suleyman co-founded DeepMind in 2010 at 26. Google bought it for £400 million in 2014. Five years later, he was stripped of management responsibilities following staff bullying complaints. An independent investigation led to mandatory professional development training. Google parked him in an AI policy role where he could make "valued contributions" without managing large teams, per a 2021 WSJ report.
Microsoft hired him in March 2024 after acquiring Inflection AI's talent for $650 million. He now runs Microsoft AI, which powers Copilot integrations in Excel and ERP systems used by finance teams globally.
His 12-18 month prediction lacks empirical support. Microsoft is building in-house "superintelligence" models to reduce OpenAI reliance, but current AI tools automate 30-40% of routine tasks like reconciliations and forecasting. The other 60-70% still requires human judgement, particularly around materiality, regulatory compliance, and audit trails.
PwC forecasts AI will transform 40% of finance jobs by 2030, not eliminate them. Deloitte reports 70% of finance leaders use AI for efficiency gains, creating demand for AI-literate CFOs rather than rendering them obsolete.
Suleyman's book The Coming Wave (2023) advocates for "humanist superintelligence" guided by humans. Presumably that guidance doesn't extend to workplace behaviour standards.
CFOs assessing automation risk should note: the man predicting your obsolescence couldn't manage a team without external intervention. His timeline contradicts his own public statements. And AI still can't lodge a BAS or explain a variance to an auditor.
Jobs will be lost in the next 18 months. Just not to artificial intelligence.