New Delhi, May 17 -- Microsoft AI chief executive Mustafa Suleyman has predicted that artificial intelligence will reach human-level performance across most professional tasks within 18 months, putting lawyers, accountants, marketers and project managers among those most at risk of displacement.

Speaking in a conversation with the Financial Times, Suleyman delivered one of the most precise and sweeping timelines yet from a major technology leader on the pace at which AI will reshape office work. The prediction has reignited a debate that has been building since early 2025, when a chorus of chief executives first began sounding the alarm on white-collar automation.

Suleyman predicted "human-level performance on most, if not all professio...