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The growing number of Indian-origin leaders at the helm of major global technology companies should not be viewed through the prism of brain drain, but as a "net positive" for both India and the world, said Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer of Cisco. Addressing the debate on whether India loses out when its top talent rises to leadership roles in the United States and other advanced economies, Patel rejected the zero-sum framing. "I think of India as a net exporter of talent," he told PTI in an interview, adding, "I haven't thought about this as a zero-sum equation." He argued that Indian professionals thriving globally often do so because of the cultural grounding they receive at home. "Indians that have been born and raised here and have actually had the benefit of the cultural values that have been instilled in us - of hard work and education and ethics and all of that - and then we go to different parts of the world and we end up thriving there largely because of
Fears that artificial intelligence could render humans redundant are misplaced, with the real breakthrough lying in combining human judgement with machine-scale automation, Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer of Cisco, said. "I don't see a scenario where humans are completely extinct of contribution of value to society. It just seems like a very far-fetched thing," Patel said, arguing that concerns about humans becoming obsolete overlook the complementary role AI is set to play. "The magic truly happens when you take human instinct and judgement and you combine it with an AI scale of automation." In an interview with PTI, Patel said while AI systems are advancing rapidly - from chatbots to autonomous agents capable of taking actions - they are tools designed to augment, not replace, human capabilities. Citing the example of his mother being hospitalised for about eight weeks before she passed away three years ago, he said no AI is taking a nurse's job. "There is a des
Global tech major Cisco believes that India is a "viable" hub for exports, but made it clear that it will wait for clarity on global trade policies before deciding to invest more here. The San Jose-headquartered company's chairman and chief executive Chuck Robbins said India is one of the biggest opportunities for Cisco globally, and it believes no other country in the world can deliver the growth rates that India can over the next decade. Stating that the company started manufacturing in India about 18 months ago with a single product and is in the process of adding two more, Robbins said India is now a "viable" place for exporting out of. "I think the global trade dynamics right now need to sort of get settled down so we actually can think through how it impacts our longer-term plans. But obviously India is a big part of it," he told reporters here, when asked about investment plans. It can be noted that Cisco has a manufacturing unit near Chennai, which was opened last ...
Cisco Systems is planning to lay off 7% of its employees, its second round of job cuts this year, as the company shifts its focus to more rapidly growing areas in technology, such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The company based in San Jose, California, did not specify the number of jobs it is cutting. It had 84,900 employees as of July 2023. Based on that figure, the number of jobs cut would be about 5,900. In February, Cisco announced it would cut about 4,000 jobs. The networking equipment maker said in June that it would invest $1 billion in tech startups like Cohere, Mistral and Scale to develop reliable AI products. It recently also announced a partnership with Nvidia to develop infrastructure for AI systems. Cisco's layoffs come just two weeks after chipmaker Intel Corp announced it would cut about 15,000 jobs as it tries to turn its business around to compete with more successful rivals like Nvidia and AMD. Intel's quarterly earnings report disappointed investo
Cisco Investments, the corporate venture investment arm of Cisco, has launched a USD 1 billion global AI investment fund to drive the development of secure and reliable AI solutions. Cisco has already allocated nearly USD 200 million from the fund, in Cohere, Mistral AI, and Scale AI. "We believe we are well positioned to be the best strategic partner for our customers in the AI era as they look to build, secure, and power AI. "In addition to building essential technology to connect, secure and advance AI, Cisco is committed to investing in the broader AI ecosystem to more effectively meet our customers' needs," Mark Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer at Cisco, said. Cisco said it will collaborate with AI companies to co-innovate and offer a range of AI solutions, positioning itself as an agnostic provider and platform player to serve its global customer base with diverse options.