Impending disruption: India must look beyond schools for the AI juggernaut

Information-technology (IT) firms are increasingly focusing on hiring people with skills in artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and cybersecurity. The recent announcement by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that it would lay off over 12,000 mid- and senior-level employees sent ripples across India’s vast IT sector, and was more than just a routine restructuring move. The changes in hiring and employee retention policies signal a deeper shift: The rapid and irreversible integration of AI into the functioning of companies, not just in IT, but across industries. In fact, TCS has been open in acknowledging that it is investing heavily in emerging technologies, including AI, to become a “future-ready” organisation.

 

All this is because the nature of work itself is also changing. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella recently stated that nearly 30 per cent of the company’s code was now being generated by AI. Meanwhile, Meta claims in 12-18 months most of the code for the company’s Llama projects will be written by AI. As the adoption of generative AI and automation scales up, the demand for traditional human labour may decline, especially in middle management and back-end technical functions. India’s IT sector, employing over five million people and contributing around 7.5 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product, has been one of the most reliable job creators, especially for the aspirational middle class. Thus, a sudden disruption in this sector has wider economic and social ramifications. While AI cannot replace all jobs, sectors other than IT are also likely to be affected. In a recent research paper, Microsoft listed 40 professions most and least likely to be affected by AI and large language models. More intellectually demanding, communication-heavy roles are among those most vulnerable to AI, while jobs requiring manual labour or a physical presence will remain relatively safe.

 

There are no easy solutions to this problem. Firms cannot be stopped from adopting technology to remain competitive. But at the same time, demand for skilled workers who could fit into AI development and ethical oversight roles will increase. IT companies are telling their employees to upskill or reskill to remain relevant. As reported by this newspaper recently, platforms like Coursera have seen explosive growth in AI-related content; in 2024 alone, four people enrolled in generative AI courses every minute, quadrupling the rate seen the year before. However, the efforts must go beyond individual initiatives. Encouragingly, India has already taken some early steps. The Ministry of Skill Development recently launched SOAR (Skilling for AI Readiness), a programme aimed at embedding AI literacy among students from Classes 6 to 12. This is a welcome move, but it must be seen as the beginning, and not the culmination, of the national AI skilling agenda. Such initiatives must extend well beyond school education. Higher education institutions, including engineering colleges and liberal arts universities, need to integrate AI, data science, and digital skills across disciplines. Workers in mid-career, many of whom are the first casualties of the current AI transition, must be provided flexible, accessible pathways to learn new skills. Public policy in the form of partnerships between government, academia, and industry should actively support this transformation. India needs to prepare for this shift collectively.