'The bot created the savings. The people created the new revenue' — James Brake reads IKEA's refusal to cut 8,500 jobs through Incorruptible

Ingka Group, which runs most IKEA stores, retrained the 8,500 call-centre workers its Billie chatbot displaced rather than cutting them, moving some into remote interior-design consulting, now its fastest-growing channel. Brake credits the lens to Incorruptible, and IKEA is one of the companies Eric names from the stage.

“In an era where “AI replaced X employees” is treated as a victory metric, IKEA's decision looks less like sentiment and more like long-term strategy. Retraining loyal, hard-working people who already understood the customer turned out to be one of the bigger wins of the whole effort.” — James Brake on LinkedIn