In a recent address at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra shared his take on the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the tech sector.
Within India and across the world, AI is bringing about a change that can only be called revolutionary. However, it has also, undeniably, resulted in changes in company structures and how they operate.
The fear of AI replacing coders within the development sector is also growing rampant, but, according to Mahindra, the situation might not be as dire as some perceive.
“AI can write code, but it can’t write character,” Mahindra noted, urging students not to pigeonhole themselves. Apart from developing technical skills, the industrialist urged the students to build integrity, resilience, and emotional intelligence, traits he believes will define true leadership in the next decade.
While Mahindra openly acknowledged the changes brought by AI, automation, and robotics, he maintained that these revolutionising technologies are no substitute for human curiosity, ethical decision-making, and empathy.
“Technology is a tool. But it’s curiosity and character that create visionaries,” Mahindra emphasised.
The AI Revolution: What the Leaders Think
Anand Mahindra is far from the only tech leader in India who has publicly refuted AI’s ability to truly replace humans as a critical part of the workforce. Leaders across India’s tech industry have been adamant that by adopting AI, they might be increasing efficiency, but the technology is not going to steal every job.
NR Narayana Murthy, Founder of Infosys, shared a similar sentiment about AI in an interview with Moneycontrol. He insisted that AI is going to pave the path for a new line of jobs that can be capitalised on.
“This whole fear that technology will take away jobs is not right. It will create a different kind of job. For example, what I found in using ChatGPT for my speeches was the following: the smartness is in providing the requirement definition for my speech. The smartness is in asking the right question,” said Murthy.
“So, what will happen in the future is our programmers and analysts will become smarter and smarter in defining better and better requirements, more complex requirements. They will solve bigger problems, more complex problems. So, I am very positive about how AI will only enhance the growth rate of our industry.”
Even while announcing the layoffs of over 12,000 employees, K Krithivasan, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at TCS, maintained that AI was not to blame.
“No, this is not because of AI giving some 20% productivity gains. We are not doing that. This is driven by where there is a skill mismatch, or where we think that we have not been able to deploy someone,” he shared with Moneycontrol.
What IT Means for Tech Workers
Even in the reassurances provided by India’s leading tech leaders, one thing is evident. Indian tech workers need to adapt, and they need to adapt fast. Undeniably, AI and automation are reducing the time, labour, and effort put into every task.
Like any piece of technology, AI is indeed rendering certain positions obsolete, but it is also giving rise to a form of industry centred solely around optimising the use of AI. While AI can indeed work wonders, it is only as good as the person giving the prompt.
As many tech leaders have emphasised, employees, too, need to adapt to the use of AI in the way that companies are doing these days. Even generative AIs like ChatGPT can reduce your labour significantly, with specialised AIs taking it many steps further.
The phrase “Work Smarter, Not Harder” has never been truer than in the current climate. Through AI, people across industries can polish their work, gain new knowledge and broaden their perspectives.
Ultimately, AI is broadening the capacity of human capabilities, and it is easily understandable just why tech leaders are adamant that, despite the restructuring that AI is already pushing for, the need for humans is going nowhere.
