At the session titled ‘Future of employability in the age of AI’ of the AI Impact Summit 2026, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India V. Anantha Nageswaran said that deliberate national choices will determine the course that AI take in India.
The session was hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It explored skills, education, and policy coordination.
According to Nageswaran, technology adoption can’t be left to adopt on its own if the country wants to safeguard growth and social stability.
The Print quoted him saying, “This will not happen by drift. It will require political will, state capacity and a clear national commitment to aligning technological adoption with mass employability.”
He highlighted that the expanding workforce of the country is both an opportunity and a warning. Millions of people enter the workforce every year, but only a small share of them have the formal skills and training. Unless the gap is closed, the demographic dividend could turn into vulnerability.
To address the potential risk, he suggested that government, industry and academia should coordinate and strengthen the foundational education to scale high-quality training.
The session was also addressed by the likes of Sanjeev Bikhchandani, who said that technology has long been known for scaring people of job loss. But in this case, he said, “If you don’t do AI, AI will be done to you.” He also urged young professionals to focus on learning practical tools.
Further, Vineet Nayar, the former CEO of HCL Technologies, said that automation has the potential to significantly alter existing roles. The discussion wasn’t just about AI reshaping work. But it focused on the pace that is needed for India to favour the rapid reshaping of its workforce.
