Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has sparked discussions by stating how artificial intelligence might reshape how people measure personal worth, particularly for those defining it through economic output or intellectual pursuits.
“If our notion of self-worth comes from the economic value we add, or if it comes from our intellectual pretence (*cough*), AI may pose a serious challenge to our self-worth,” Vembu said in a post on X.
If our notion of self-worth comes from the economic value we add, or if it comes our intellectual pretense (*cough*), AI may pose a serious challenge to our self-worth.
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) February 27, 2026
On the other hand no one takes up activities like taking care of children, teaching children, taking care of…
However, Vembu contrasted this with roles driven by purpose rather than pay. This includes activities such as caring for children and the elderly, teaching, returning to farming despite having lucrative urban careers, protecting forests as rangers, performing daily temple rituals regardless of attendance, or practising classical music for small audiences, which are not motivated by financial reward.
“None of them does it because those activities pay well,” he said.
“They will be unaffected by AI. Humanity may organise itself more towards such activity,” he concluded.
The post has attracted several reactions. One user noted that the type of activities Vembu cited will be unviable due to financial reasons.
“Passion activities do not survive in an economic vacuum. Consider Renaissance Florence. Those artists and musicians only thrived because the Medici banking empire created massive surplus wealth to subsidise them. If AI dismantles our primary economic engines, the surplus funding those noble passions simply evaporates,” the user said.
Passion activities do not survive in an economic vacuum. Consider Renaissance Florence.
— Vishnu Agarwal (@vishnuagarwal64) February 27, 2026
Those artists and musicians only thrived because the Medici banking empire created massive surplus wealth to subsidise them.
If AI dismantles our primary economic engines, the surplus…
Vembu responded by saying that it is important to look beyond money.
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“Don't look at it in terms of ‘money'. AI and related technologies promise to massively elevate productivity in terms of goods and services. The question is ‘how will we consume that production when the production does not create jobs and therefore does not supply the income needed to consume the production',” he said.
“In other words, if/when technology creates the surplus, without the jobs, it becomes a question of political economy on how people get to consume that surplus,” Vembu added.
Another user wrote, “The world is not perfect. Just look around and you'll see how many things can be done better. Cities can be rebuilt. The new jobs will solve new problems for humanity, that we have had to live with because the alternative was not there or expensive.”
“This is not just tech vs meaning. This is Artha vs Dharma. AI threatens Artha-based identity — ‘I earn, therefore I am.' But Dharma was never income-linked,” posted another person.
Previously, Vembu had also criticised OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's comparison of how much energy is required to train AI models vis-a-vis human beings.
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“I do not want to see a world where we equate a piece of technology to a human being. I work hard as a technologist to see a world where we don't allow technology to dominate our lives; instead, it should quietly recede into the background,” he had said.
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