Artificial intelligence will change jobs, but India’s bigger challenge is preparing the workforce, the boardroom and the classroom

The debate surrounding artificial intelligence has largely been framed around a single question: Will it take jobs?

But at The Hindu Huddle’s session on ‘I, Robot: How AI is Reshaping the Future of Work’, industry veterans argued that India is at risk of missing out on a far more important conversation – how to re-engineer education, skills, research and business for an AI-driven future.

Also Read: The Hindu Huddle 2026 Day 2 Update

Moderated by Businessline Editor Raghuvir Srinivasan, the panel brought together former Cognizant CEO Lakshmi Narayanan, former NASSCOM President and NITI Aayog Distinguished Fellow Debjani Ghosh and former Saint-Gobain India Chairman B. Santhanam.

For Ms. Ghosh, the current narrative about job losses caused by artificial intelligence is often wrong. “A lot of the moves up until now have been due to staff moving around during the pandemic. So there’s been a correction,” she said, pushing back against the notion that AI is already eliminating large numbers of jobs.

This does not mean that the risks are negligible. As AI systems become capable of performing routine and repetitive tasks, basic tasks are likely to be under the greatest pressure.

“The entry level is definitely going to be disrupted. And that’s important because these are millions of people in India and millions of young people in India,” Ms Ghosh said.

The challenge, she argued, is not to resist AI, but to redesign it. Rather than viewing jobs as fixed roles, employers and policymakers must break them down into tasks and identify areas that can be automated and that continue to require human judgment.

That future, she said, would be defined by what she called the “human sandwich model.” “You need humans to create the questions and inputs, the AI ​​does the work, and at the end you need humans to verify the result,” she said, adding that the model will become even more critical as autonomous AI agents become commonplace.

The conversation soon shifted from jobs to India’s place in the global AI economy.

While India has emerged as one of the world’s largest digital markets, Ms Ghosh cautioned that being a consumer of technology is not the same as creating value from it.

“If you look at the $17.6 trillion forecast that AI will create in the next five years, 80% of that is going to two countries, the US and China. In the case of India, we should aim to get at least 10% of that,” she said.

But Mr. Santhanam believes that India’s biggest opportunity may not lie in direct competition with Silicon Valley’s frontier models. Instead, he argued that the country could have a disproportionate impact through the spread of artificial intelligence across sectors such as agriculture, education and healthcare.

“The most important work is in dissemination in these three areas – agriculture, education and health. That’s where I think AI can do what humans can’t,” he said.

He pointed to examples of AI solutions developed for India’s agricultural ecosystems being adapted for use elsewhere within months, highlighting the country’s ability to deploy the technology at scale.

Still, Mr. Santhanam reserved his harshest criticism for corporate India.

“There are 230 independent directors in the Nifty 45. Less than 10% of them have any knowledge or understanding of technology. That is the state of our boards,” he said.

The lack of AI engagement at the boardroom level is particularly concerning at a time when technology is rapidly transforming industries, he said. “Not one company mentioned AI in the CEO report. Not one. That’s shocking.”

Mr. Narayanan reiterated concerns about India’s preparedness, especially in education and research. When asked whether Indian universities are producing graduates ready for the AI ​​era, his answer was straightforward.

“The short answer is no.

According to him, India has historically excelled in the adoption and diffusion of technology, but has under-invested in the inventions and research that drive technological leadership. “We are not investing enough in research. The private sector is to blame,” he said.

The former Cognizant chief argued that while India is comfortable with proliferation, it needs much stronger innovation and research capabilities if it hopes to play a meaningful role in shaping the next wave of AI.

Together, the panelists painted a picture that was neither utopian nor alarmist. AI will disrupt jobs, especially at the bottom of the pyramid. It will also create new opportunities. But whether India emerges as a creator of value or merely a consumer of it will depend on how quickly it can retool its classrooms, boardrooms and workforce for a technology that is evolving faster than any before it.

Published – June 6, 2026 10:32 PM IST