'AI Will Make Us More Human' — Arundhati Bhattacharya Weighs In On Impact Of AI On Jobs, Livelihoods

In an exclusive interview with NDTV Profit, Arundhati Bhattacharya, discussed her transition from being the former chairperson of the State Bank of India to being the president and CEO of Salesforce South Asia, and said that while she had always been interested in the power of technology, she wanted to change the sides of the table and see how exactly the technology vendors act, what do they do and learn from them.

Expanding on the same, she delved into an in-depth analysis of the impact of artificial intelligence on various sectors across India.

"Not a single sector will remain unaffected. You are going to have to use AI if you want to retain your efficiency and productivity and if you want to do better," she said.

She also compared the use of AI in the context of developed markets and developing markets such as India and said that while developed markets may use AI to cut down on labour, for the Indian context it is more about providing far better services to a very populous nation which cannot be done in the "brick and water manner".

Lauding the technological advancements over the years, she explained how the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and Mobile) helped cover the 600,000 villages under financial inclusion.

"AI is giving us an opportunity to bring much better quality of life to our farmers. AI can give you the right inputs for you to sow the right products at the right time and ensure those particular produce is guarded", Bhattacharya said.

She also talked about how AI will democratise the education and healthcare scenario in India.

Risks, Rewards, And Preparation

Talking about the threat of unemployment caused by artificial intelligence, she said, "No transition is without some amount of pain. But the fact is (that) people will have to upskill themselves."

The Salesforce CEO also said that AI is here to make humans more human besides other things. "Consider a state hospital... the doctors hardly get any time to talk to the patients because they have to do the mundane work of noting down their symptoms and coming up with a diagnosis on the fly. What happens if AI does a lot of that ground work and presents it to the patient? The doctor has more time to talk to the patient," she said.

According to Bhattacharya, one can be prepared for this transition by meeting three key criteria of creativity, resilience, and openness to learn.