India needs skilled AI talent base to manage displacement

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the buzzword in the present day technology world. Enterprises across the world are betting big on this emerging technology domain. Such is the frenzy that top tech leaders see it as the solution to many real world problems. For instance, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella contends that AI will not only solve India's structural challenges, but it could also turn out to be relevant for the rest of the world. He has predicted that AI-led businesses can be 10 per cent of India’s $5 trillion economy. To build a large skilled workforce, Microsoft will skill two million people with AI skilling opportunities by 2025. These developments and trust in AI’s abilities are the focal points driving technology giants. This trend has also started reflecting in the stock market. The bet on strong AI demand has supercharged chip maker, Nvidia shares, making it the best performing stock among the so-called ‘magnificent seven’ with a 223 per cent surge over the past 12 months. Meta Platforms is second with a 163 per cent rise.

All indications are that such Bull Run is likely to continue for all technology stocks that have special focus on AI technology. Against this backdrop, the implications of this new technology are immense for India. Firstly, the country is the largest talent hub of technology professionals in the world. So, if the world needs to move forward on AI, it needs India’s large talent pool to support the advancements. In this regard, Microsoft’s move to skill two million Indians by 2025 is a welcome move. Many IT firms in the country are already reskilling their employees with AI talent. Many have carved out separate generative AI units to cash in on the emerging opportunities in this space. There is no room for doubt that these developments augur well for the country. As a developing nation, India faces many structural problems. AI can come up with innovative solutions to these critical problems. This can boost India’s growth rate and the country can realise the dream of being a developed nation by 2047.

Moreover, such a trend will encourage many more global enterprises to set up technology centres in India. Effectively, new applications in AI will be built from India for the world. However, any new technology advancements come with their set of challenges. The world is currently debating the impact of AI technology on jobs for quite some time now. Industry leaders accept that some level of labour displacement is bound to happen with the advent of AI technology. Some startups laid off people as AI-induced automation replaced staffers. As Nadella has said jobs lost somewhere will get created in other places. On a net basis, more jobs will get created than those that are lost. Against this backdrop, India has to reskill its talent base rapidly in order to protect itself from any large scale displacement coming from AI.