'AI To Create More Jobs And Change The Nature Of Jobs': Microsoft India President

Artificial Intelligence may create more jobs and change the way jobs are traditionally perceived, according to Puneet Chandok, the president of Microsoft's India and South Asia operations at a panel on AI at NDTV Profit's 'Conclave' event, hosted by Vishnu Sohm.

The panel additionally consisted of Ronnie Screwvala, chairperson and cofounder of upGrad; Manu Chopra, cofounder and chief executive officer of Karya AI; and Pratyush Kumar, cofounder of Sarvam AI.

The panellists discussed where AI technology would take the country in the next five years.

"AI has the ability to reduce the cord between knowledge and agency," Chandok said.

He elaborated on his statement, stating that AI technology may help broaden the knowledge base, expertise, and judgement skills of those who are new to their profession, especially in fields such as law, medicine, and education.

Contrary to popular belief, that AI may replace jobs, Microsoft India's president opined that it may instead change the nature of jobs.

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.

Ronnie Screwvala stated that AI would not replace education, saying that despite changes in how generations consume information, AI will be an add-on feature to educational infrastructure and not displace education as a whole.

"In the last 50-70 years, there is a certain base camp that you go to. Some things will remain constant, despite differences in the way every generation consumes things," Screwvala said.

Puneet Chandok said that he envisioned the future of AI to "have a lot more empathy, personality, and context on who you are."

Saying that it could become like a virtual extension of a user.

Manu Chopra said that he views AI as an "amplifier of intent and capacity." He stated that it would expand earning and learning opportunities for everybody, including low-income communities, and accelerate productivity.

Pratyush Kumar said that he sees India becoming a leader in per capita consumption of generative AI in the same way that India had become a leader in per capita data consumption.

"The surprises won't stop; technology is still very early in the evolution. As a builder, there don't seem to be clear limitations on why it won't improve further. It's both scary and exciting," he said.

He said that it would ensure a better quality of life for everyone due to it advancing access to education and healthcare.

"Take this on as an evolution rather than an apocalyptic event. It's going to evolve," Screwvala said.

Chandok said that AI would expand the "topline opportunities to sell more" and "denominator opportunities for efficiency and productivity."

Chopra said that there will be a responsibility to ensure AI is equitable; he singled out information asymmetry as a problem in communities.

"With access to healthcare and info taken care of, how do we ensure the vast majority of the community uses the tech to be more productive, make more money, contribute more to ending information asymmetry, and connect people to what they need?" the Karya AI CEO stated.

Kumar said that the dialogue around AI needs to be more grounded in policy and economic concerns.

He identified a set of key raw materials for AI development in India, such as the talent to build and use AI models, hardware to accelerate these models, and power required to run the models at scale.

"India has to build chips going ahead, needs to have nuclear reactors, and all the second-degree investments we have to make are in infrastructure," he said.

He enumerated that most of the costs on AI will be on training and user accessibility, making sure that these models will be cheaper and faster.