How companies evaluate and judge AI will decide winners: BCG CEO Christoph Schweizer

There is potential for AI middle powers to emerge, and certainly for India to be one of them, Boston Consulting Group chief executive Christoph Schweizer said.

Not every country will have its own Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Microsoft, but that doesn't rule out a middle path, Schweizer said.

"I think we have reached a window where the real question on a macroeconomic level is: Is a country ready to productively adopt AI, and to make best use of that," he said.


Schweizer was speaking during a session on 'The New Business Reality: Ditch the Old Playbook'. "How do you use that technology? I think it's going to be either massively productivity enhancing, or it can be a real downside. And I believe India is generally well positioned. I think there's openness to technology, and there's also care in selecting where you use it," he said. "So, there's an opportunity. But that's going to be a race between many countries and many companies around the world."

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Reality check for CEOs

Schweizer said judgement, empathy and motivational skills are going to get more important, and CEOs now face the difficult task of combining technical understanding with human leadership, at a time when a sharp rise in the cost of capital worldwide has raised the real cost of failure and sharpened the need to prioritise investments carefully.

Asked for one uncomfortable piece of advice for CEOs, he said many leaders ask what AI means for them personally, often concluding they need to become more fluent in the technology themselves. That instinct, he said, is correct. "A CEO who doesn't understand where the technology stands will lack the credibility and competence to make critical investments and strategic decisions," he said.

ENTRY-LEVEL HIRING HOLDS STEADY

Speaking about concerns over stagnating entry-level jobs in the tech sector, he pointed to BCG's own experience as a counterpoint. He said AI's impact on BCG has been hugely net positive, generating strong demand for the firm's services. BCG, he said, had not reduced its junior-level intake and remained committed to hiring through the full business cycle.

The firm that employs 34,000 people recruits thousands of entry-level staff every year. "They come from university and they know how to use the broad set of tools day to day," he said, adding that new hires are often teaching institutions how to use these tools rather than the other way around.

Automation and IT Services

Asked about the broader narrative of stagnation across the tech sector, particularly in India's IT services industry, he acknowledged that parts of the value chain would inevitably be automated-just as elements of banking in New York, law in London, or marketing in Tokyo are being reshaped by AI. But he urged companies to focus on the upside and the potential for innovation, expressing confidence in Indian companies and their leadership to develop new offerings and capabilities in demand.