Only 10 jobs created for every 100 jobs taken away by Artificial Intelligence

BENGALURU: At least 10 new AI-based jobs are being created for every 100 positions made redundant in traditional technology, experts in the field have said.

However, the new roles are not being created as quickly as the positions that are eliminated and companies are increasingly training talent to fill the gap in artificial intelligence skills.

This was the key takeaway from ET’s recent conversation on Technology Talent Equilibrium with Sridhar Mitta, founder of digital technology services provider NextWealth Entrepreneurs; Prakash Mallya, the head of Intel India, and Supriyo Das, vice-president, Wipro Technologies. “If 100 jobs are cut, 10 jobs are created. The people who are losing jobs have different skills, and they’re going away. People are getting new jobs on different skillsets,” Mitta said.

Intel has started initiatives to teach AI in schools, said Mallya. “I guess, training skills outside the industry requires a collective ecosystem and efforts across different companies,” he said. “You need to approach it in different ways. You need to reach out to industry, developers, startups. How do we include formal education on AI to build mindset, have some AI for Youth initiative, which is 254 hours, four-stage (that) we are rolling out for 10 schools,” Mallya explained.

To develop AI-ready talent, Intel India has trained more than 1,50,000 developers, students and professors since 2017. The global opportunity of AI was estimated at about $15.7 trillion by 2030, according to a PwC report last year. Technology services companies are increasingly using AI at the core, raising the demand for talent.

“The prediction is definitely there will be a shortfall of skills. We need to categorise where you need most right, and what kind of jobs will get created,” said Das of Wipro. “From our organisation’s perspective, we do not see AI as a particular set of skills for a particular set of people. AI is needed everywhere,” he added.