AI tech to replace humans workflow, says Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar

Start-ups not working on technologies that can replace humans in workflow will not last long, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said on Tuesday.

While speaking at the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, however, said that his company will need more people to develop technology and provide support as the adoption of AI increases.

When asked about whether Paytm is also looking at technologies to reduce its workforce, Sharma said, "We will need to hire more ... to provide technology support. Technology companies will become stronger with the adoption of tech".

During his session on Digital Transformation, Sharma said anything that is being done physically or mentally will be replaced by AI like car driving and writing code. Startups not developing tech to replace human workflow will not last long.

"If you are not building a startup that removes the obligation of a human's workflow, you're not building a company that will be surviving after five years," Sharma said.

He said that though it is not good for jobs, if a start-up's technology is not removing humans then it will not be an edge start-up.

Sharma said that earlier companies were known by the size of the employees but now single-person companies are getting where AI is becoming their chief financial officer, chief human resource officer.

"Machines will take care of processes and systems that typically humans do. Most ambitious person in this room will take an ambition of removing 100 thousand people off the load of the work. That is the power of AI that you are expecting. If you are not building for that then you are building mediocre stuff," Sharma said.

He said that AI will be disruptive to the economy, business and workflow which will concentrate power in the hands of people and countries who have computers and capabilities to use those systems.

"I am shaken by the deep insight of what will happen to our country's workforce," Sharma said.