We thank God there is AI: TCS chief Chandrasekaran on transformation

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran says AI can transform society and businesses and must be adopted across jobs, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman flags safety and deployment challenges

Artificial intelligence has the ability to change society to unimaginable levels, empower people and help reinvent businesses, even though the pace of change may vary. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said during a fireside chat with Sam Altman.

 

“The job at hand for us is to get everyone excited and get everyone ready for AI, irrespective of whether they are blue-collar or white-collar workers,” he added. The government also needs to use this technology to fix poor infrastructure in Indian cities, try to remove inequality and address chronic healthcare problems. 

“We thank God there is AI,” he quipped. 

He cited the example of people using AI in India’s rural areas and the impact technology can have on their lives. “We do more than 50 per cent of the digital payments of the world. This country has a unique ability to pull off big transformations,” he added.

 

 

OpenAI CEO Altman said the power of AI has grown in leaps and bounds over the past decade. While 10 years ago, AI could just add two-digit numbers, it could do high school mathematics two years ago and is now capable of doing research-level mathematics.

 

However, he also cautioned that all in the ecosystem need to figure out the right approach to safety, security and data, which is critical to the success of AI. Equally important will be figuring out how to deploy AI agents.