As the rise of
generative AI
begins to pose a threat to certain occupations, Sandip Patel, the Managing Director of IBM India/South Asia, has expressed his belief that
AI
will actually generate more employment opportunities than it eliminates.
In a conversation with news agency IANS, Patel shared his observations on the evolution of technology and various innovations over time.
He strongly believes that AI will result in a net increase in job opportunities. He noted that people often express fear when confronted with the prospect of entirely new job roles. He cited the advent of the Internet as an example, which, while leading to a decrease in jobs in certain sectors like newspaper printing, also gave birth to entirely new job categories such as web design, data science, digital marketing, and web publishing. These new fields now employ millions of individuals.
Reskilling is the key
Patel emphasized the crucial role of re-skilling in this context, a point he and his team consistently articulate.
Currently, 46% of Indian companies are actively training or re-skilling their employees to collaborate with automation and AI tools, indicating a significant scope for further efforts in this direction.
Patel highlighted that the government is well aware of this situation. Within organizations, half of the employees express enthusiasm about working with new AI and automation tools.
The challenge now, according to Patel, is to train a large workforce. Not everyone can be a coder or an AI developer. It’s essential to learn to adapt to these evolving technologies.
IT minster: Technology talent is India's strength
Echoing Patel’s sentiments, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for IT and Skill Development, stated that technology talent, rather than chip-driven computing power, is the key to India’s progress in AI.
He stressed that talent is a more fundamental challenge in AI. He emphasized the need for universities to produce more masters and PhDs in AI. He expressed concern about the talent issue, stating that it keeps him awake at night, while the infrastructure issues will be resolved quickly.
Chandrasekhar stressed the urgent need for the tech industry and academic institutions to collaborate with governments worldwide to shape the future talent pipeline for AI-related jobs.
English (US) ·