Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran has said the recent round of layoffs taking place within Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. where nearly 30,000 were laid off in a span of six months, has nothing to do with AI.
"TCS has answered it. TCS layoffs have nothing to do with it (AI). Unfortunately whatever commentary comes, that comes. But basically, it's got nothing to do with AI," Chandrasekaran said in a conversation with NDTV Profit on the sidelines of the AI India Impact Summit 2026 on Thursday.
The TCS chairman said that he backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of human-centric AI. "I think AI will hugely empower human beings. The prime minister very beautifully spoke today morning about how we need a human centric AI, and I think that is possible," he said.
"I gave examples of ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) workers, ASHA workers were mere data collectors, but with the help of AI, now they've become caregivers, they're doing a very high level job than what they were doing before," the Tata Sons Chairman added.
Chandrasekaran stated that AI helps people "reduce and subtract the effort that is required in order for people to perform at higher levels". He said that he saw the summit as a learning opportunity where one can gather knowledge regarding the emerging field of AI technology rather than a place to make business deals.
"It's an opportunity where we meet with all the leaders from different companies, understand what they're doing and how the future is evolving, it's also a place where we gain knowledge. It's not about deals everyday," the Tata Sons chairman said.
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