AI-first biz strategy bodes well for Infy

The Artificial Intelligence-first business strategy adopted by Infosys is working well for the company despite unresolved ethical and IPR issues around the technology, Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani said on Wednesday.

In his address at Infosys’ 42nd Annual General Meeting, Nilekani said the company has to be more efficient while nurturing readiness for growth, given its performance in challenging scenarios created by inflation, interest rates, geopolitics, demand volatility and supply chain dislocations.

“Several practical, ethical and intellectual property-related issues when it comes to AI remain unresolved. We also know that the motto of scaling AI in the enterprise is far from simple. And yet, the AI-first strategy we're embracing already working for us,” Nilekani said.

Infosys had long ago donated funds to the development of OpenAI, but holds no stake in the platform after it became a for-profit entity. Responding to a shareholder's query, Nilekani said AI has the potential to make a big improvement in the productivity of people. "You can derive more benefit from AI like automatic code generation and all that. So, definitely, productivity will go up. We believe that it will be used to amplify the productivity of existing people," he said.

Infosys MD and CEO Salil Parekh said that the company has started using AI in various processes within the company, including software development.

"The receding pandemic brought an end to one set of challenges, but its aftermath has created new ones. The cocktail of inflation, interest rate, geopolitics, war, demand volatility, supply chain dislocations, and shift from efficiency to resilience and security - all morphing quickly and without warning is upon us. This makes doing all we can to be efficient in the present as well as nurturing readiness for growth in the future," Nilekani said.