AI, A boon or curse for IT jobs in India

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not the Adversary for the Indian Job Market if it’s not a Messiah. The ubiquitous technology is reshaping almost every industry today, be it IT, education, defense, engineering, healthcare, retail, or even entertainment.

AI is the be-all and end-all of the majority of disruptions and advancements in the present era. At the one end, businesses are exploiting the power of AI for optimizing resources, on the other end; many are taking it as a menace to millions of existing and potential employees across the industries.

Evidently, more than 50 per cent of generic work profiles are on the verge of getting extinct with the advent of fast and easy to implement AI technologies in the various industries. But it is equally true that AI is deemed to bring a positive transformation in the job market.

The most endangered profiles after AI transitions are mainly related to the manual labour, administrative and accountancy jobs which will be smartly taken over by the AI-backed automation and software, and the majority of the workforce will have better skilled and improved work domain.

According to the latest report of Gartner, AI could vanish up to 1.8 million jobs by 2020. It’s not as shocking as its sounds in the first instance because the same study also forecasts more than 2.3 million job creation due to AI within the said timeline. In fact, the effective outcome of AI is positive for employers as well as employees.

It is believed that customary job roles will be transformed into dynamic ones after high AI penetration in the workplaces. According to a study on the impact of AI on the job market, around 52-69 per cent of traditional profiles will be converted into skilled profiles. And, similar are the findings of the joint study of All India Management Association (AIMA) and PwC that AI is going to reshape various jobs in IT, finance, manufacturing, logistics, and packaging sectors.

Today, governments all over the world realize that AI is the need of the hour to strengthen business and economy and with respect to the country’s Digital India Mission, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched the AI Task Force.

The task force identified the key industries for AI adoption in addition to addressing current challenges. Additionally, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, the think tank of Government of India on economic planning and developmental aspects also drafted and issued ‘National Strategy for AI’.

Both the AI Task Force and NITI Aayog have emphasized AI’s inclusivity in manufacturing, agriculture, education, and healthcare to tap innumerable benefits of AI in the overall development of the economy.

Avoiding or procrastinating AI due to job-loss fear will have unavoidable ramifications on the country’s economy. There may be some transitory problems in the job market, but the overall effects look quite promising. Indeed, with some additional knowledge and skills, people will be able to get more value-added and lucrative jobs.

The hardest part of anyone’s job is unnecessarily burdened with the tasks that are menial, repetitive, and totally uninspiring. Feeding tonnes of data into the system or sorting stacks of files and documents are the real pain for any professional.

The companies utilizing digital platforms can eliminate this boredom from the employees’ life and encourage them to spend their invaluable time performing tasks that require their cognition and intelligence.

The latest technologies, including Big Data Analytics, Robotics, Predictive Modelling, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, and AI are a proven boon to the businesses that make sluggish growth by sticking to outdated techniques and practices.

According to Gartner, adopting digital initiatives topped the priority list of CIOs in 2019. The essential focus would be on double-digit growth, organizational agility, and high employee retention rate.

By Abhishek Agarwal, Senior Vice President, Judge Group