By Jason Nelson
Publication Date: 2026-02-12 23:57:00
In brief
- Microsoft’s AI CEO says AI will automate most white-collar jobs like lawyers and accountants in 12-18 months.
- The tech giant is building its own super intelligence foundation model for release sometime this year.
- Suleyman warns that a major AI safety incident is likely in the next two to three years with no regulatory mechanisms in place.
Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said most professional white-collar tasks could be fully automated within the next two years, outlining a timeline that would affect workers across industries, including law, accounting, and marketing.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Suleyman said AI is approaching what he described as “human-level performance” of most office-based roles.
“I think that we’re going to have a human-level performance on most, if not all, professional tasks,” he said. “So 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…