AI offers huge scope but firms face widening implementation gap: Nilekani

At Infosys' Investor AI Day, Nandan Nilekani said AI's opportunity is larger than ever but enterprises face an execution gap, needing legacy overhaul, workforce reskilling and new operating models

Artificial intelligence (AI) represents one of the biggest opportunities the technology industry has ever seen — but the real challenge lies in execution, not invention, said Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Infosys, at the company’s Investor AI Day.

 

Speaking to analysts, Nilekani argued that there is “no opportunity gap” in the AI era. Instead, what companies face is an implementation gap — a widening distance between the rapid advances in AI models and enterprises’ ability to deploy them effectively at scale.

 

“My view is there is no opportunity gap. If anything, the opportunity is bigger than ever before. So don’t get distracted by that,” said Nilekani as part of his 20-minute address. 

 

He also highlighted that technology is far ahead of its deployment. “Because of this race and spending billions and some AGI and all that, the technology is moving faster than the ability of enterprises to deploy it.”

 

Nilekani added that fundamentally, it’s about organisational change, business change, training and retraining people, thinking about non-deterministic approaches, changing data so it’s no longer in silos.

 

Citing Harvard professor Clayton Christensen’s concept of “technology overshoot”, Nilekani noted that AI capability may race ahead of actual enterprise needs, creating both risks and openings for those who can execute effectively.

 

Unlike earlier transitions — from mainframes to PCs, or from on-premise systems to cloud — AI is not merely a technological overlay. It requires fundamental changes in operating models, customer journeys and business architecture.

 

“You cannot run businesses the old way,” he said. Legacy modernisation, long deferred by enterprises, can no longer be postponed. Many large firms still spend 60–80 per cent of IT budgets maintaining ageing systems built across decades. These systems, often siloed and undocumented, are also vulnerable to cyber threats.

 

To fully leverage AI, companies must undertake what Nilekani described as a “root-and-branch surgery” — cleaning up accumulated tech debt, breaking down data silos and re-architecting systems for AI-native operations.

 

A major implication of this transition is workforce transformation.

 

AI will not eliminate talent needs, Nilekani stressed, but it will redefine roles. Traditional coding and testing jobs will evolve into AI engineering, orchestration, forward deployment engineering, forensic analysis and data-centric roles.

 

“You will need talent, but it’ll go from QA testing or development. We have all kinds of new roles: AI engineers, forward deployment engineers, AI leads, forensic analysts, data, so fundamentally, the challenge will be how do you take your workforce and make sure that they are reskilled and ready for the new business? And that’s really the challenge that all the firms will face,” he added.

 

Infosys also for the first time shared details on its AI revenue.

 

Salil Parekh, CEO and MD of Infosys, in his presentation said that the company provides AI services to 90 per cent of its large 200 clients. Parekh for the first time disclosed that AI-related revenue is 5.5 per cent of its revenue in the third quarter of FY26.

 

“It is growing at a rapid pace. It is extremely dynamic and working well with our clients,” said Parekh.

 

He also highlighted six areas of growth in AI services. Based on an external analysis, he said that these six areas have an opportunity in the range of $300–400 billion till 2030. These six areas include: AI strategy and engineering, data for AI, process AI, agentic legacy modernisation, physical AI and AI trust.

 

Parekh also added that the company is expanding its partner ecosystem and continues to recruit fresher talent from campuses. “We have recruited 20,000 college graduates this year. For next financial year (FY27) also we will hire 20,000 freshers,” said Parekh.

 

Today, Infosys also announced collaboration with Anthropic. Both the firms will develop and deliver advanced enterprise AI solutions to companies across telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing and software development.

 

The collaboration will focus on agentic AI by using tools like Claude Agent SDK, which will help clients build AI agents that can work across long, complex processes. The collaboration will also help organisations modernise legacy systems, combining Infosys Topaz and Claude to accelerate migration and reduce the cost of updating ageing infrastructure.

 

“There’s a big gap between an AI model that works in a demo and one that works in a regulated industry — and if you want to close that gap, you need domain expertise,” said Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei.

 

The collaboration will begin in telecommunications with a dedicated Anthropic Centre of Excellence to build and deploy AI agents tailored to industry-specific operations. This will be done with Anthropic’s Claude Cowork and Infosys Topaz AI offerings to help enterprises automate complex workflows, accelerate software delivery and adopt AI with the governance and transparency that regulated industries require.

 

The announcement saw Infosys’s stock price rise 4.8 per cent during intraday and close 1.9 per cent higher than the previous close.