The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence across industries will lead to "serious jeopardy" for certain jobs, especially for customer support and call centre jobs, according to Info Edge's Sanjeev Bikhchandani.
"I'm seeing customer support jobs in serious jeopardy due to AI...As Info Edge, we've also invested in startups that offer 'call centre-in-a-box' type services," the veteran investor and operator said.
He was speaking at the IPCIDE Annual Conference on the State of India's Digital Economy 2025 on Friday in New Delhi.
"The problem with AI is that those who lose jobs aren't the ones getting new jobs," he said, adding that his own group company, leading jobs portal Naukri.com, has "let go of about 180 freelancers" as the company didn't need them due to efficiencies brought in by AI.
From a macro lens, AI's impact on employment might not be much, but it's the micro-level changes that might end up becoming a spot of bother, Bikhchandani added.
Several leaders have spoken on the debate on whether AI will end up taking more jobs than it will create.
Earlier this month at the NDTV Profit Conclave, Microsoft India and South Asia President Puneet Chandok said AI won't replace jobs, but instead change their nature.
He defined jobs as a collection of tasks, with AI freeing up people to do more by taking on some of these tasks.
"It will help in getting people started much faster and much better to do a lot more work, a lot more amplification," Chandok said.
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