It’s All About AI And Jobs

When I started covering technology many moons ago, marketing was among the more comfortable functions at tech firms. Sales as always was high-pressure and a rat race, while product development, manufacturing/supply chain and the like have never been a walk in the park. It’s not to say that marketing was easy (it never was), but while launches and the like could be pressure-cooker situations, the marketing function comparatively seemed slightly better.

Fast forward to today and the pressure to deliver measurable return on investments is so high that chief marketing officers are on the hot seat as the CMOs' traditional role of brand stewardship has shifted to driving revenue growth and delivering profitability. CMOs, who are often on the pioneering side of the tech curve are doing their bit—a new study by the IBM Institute of Business Value says that Indian CMOs are focussing on customer experience, tech modernisation and business model innovation, alongside scaling service delivery and marketing, and sales effectiveness. Yet, they face critical gaps in responsible AI, talent readiness, and data utilisation. And these gaps are creating a growing disconnect between ambition and execution.

While AI is the obvious answer that IBM is pushing, the issue is that just around a quarter of Indian CMOs have established responsible AI guidelines and around the same number believe their teams have the necessary talent to harness AI. Another issue is that many preside over silos, with only one-third having a cross functional view of the customer journey. And the quality of data issue remains a big question mark—even as GenAI's value lies in proprietary data, only 1% of enterprise data is being tapped.

In more from the AI and jobs department, Microsoft has announced that by leveraging AI, it saved $500 million last year in just call centres, while increasing employee and customer satisfaction. This comes at a time when Microsoft has slashed around 15,000 jobs this year, with the latest round of layoffs targeting customer-facing roles like sales.

On the question of AI and jobs, we had Salesforce's Arundhati Bhattacharya weighing in. Salesforce has said that 30% of internal work at the company is now being handled by AI. Bhattacharya, however, brings immense experience from the other side of the table where she led the gigantic State Bank of India with its branches in every nook and corner of this large country, and its massive workforce. At various times in her career, she has had to face the question of whether technology increasing efficiency and productivity would also reduce the need for people. Read what she had to say on this issue.

Here are some of the other AI-related reads from the past few days:

ChatGPT’s Mental Health Costs Are Adding Up

Elon Musk Unveils Grok 4 AI Chatbot After Antisemitism Controversy

Company Turns To AI For Cost Cutting, Ends Up Paying US Woman Rs 1.7 Lakh To Fix Errors

Capgemini To Buy IT Firm WNS For $3.3 Billion To Boost AI

US Plans AI Chip Curbs On Malaysia, Thailand Over China Concerns

Nvidia Hits $4 Trillion Value As Rally Notches Another Milestone

See you next week,

-Ivor Soans