The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) casts a “shadow of great uncertainty” on jobs, given its impact on workers at all skill levels – low, medium and high, according to the Economic Survey. “The biggest disruptor to the future of work is the rapid growth of AI, which is poised to revolutionise the global economy. India will not be spared from this transformation.”
The study noted that technological leaps have the potential to impede growth given growing concerns over the impact of AI on jobs, and therefore require concerted efforts from the central and state governments as well as businesses to minimise the disruption. “These will pose barriers and hurdles to India's sustained high growth rates in the coming years and decades,” it said.
To protect jobs, we need to adapt quickly to the advances: “As AI takes hold in different sectors of economic activity, the job market will need to adapt and it is important to steer technological choices towards collective well-being.”
While AI has great potential to boost productivity, it could also “disrupt employment” in certain sectors, the report said: “As AI systems become smarter and their adoption increases, the future of work will be reshaped. Routine tasks, including customer service, are likely to become highly automated, creative sectors will see widespread use of AI tools for image and video production, personalized AI tutors will transform education, and sectors like healthcare could accelerate drug discovery.”
The survey also said that India's services exports, especially the BPO sector, may take a major hit from the advent of AI and companies will need to devise strategies to deal with this reversal. “The next wave of technological evolution may put an end to the boom in communications and the rise of internet-enabled BPO. In this context, the business sector has a responsibility not only to society but also to itself to think seriously about how AI can augment the workforce rather than replace it.” On the impact of AI in the services sector, the survey said the study suggests that AI is likely to “gradually curb growth opportunities in business services,” thus posing challenges to long-term sustainability and job creation.
However, the study noted that while AI poses challenges for employment, it also emerges as an opportunity to create jobs. “India's relatively low operational costs and the world's second-largest pool of highly skilled AI, machine learning and big data workers make it an attractive destination for AI investments.” With a large demographic dividend and a very young population, India is “uniquely positioned” in that AI poses both risks and opportunities.
The study noted that technological leaps have the potential to impede growth given growing concerns over the impact of AI on jobs, and therefore require concerted efforts from the central and state governments as well as businesses to minimise the disruption. “These will pose barriers and hurdles to India's sustained high growth rates in the coming years and decades,” it said.
To protect jobs, we need to adapt quickly to the advances: “As AI takes hold in different sectors of economic activity, the job market will need to adapt and it is important to steer technological choices towards collective well-being.”
While AI has great potential to boost productivity, it could also “disrupt employment” in certain sectors, the report said: “As AI systems become smarter and their adoption increases, the future of work will be reshaped. Routine tasks, including customer service, are likely to become highly automated, creative sectors will see widespread use of AI tools for image and video production, personalized AI tutors will transform education, and sectors like healthcare could accelerate drug discovery.”
The survey also said that India's services exports, especially the BPO sector, may take a major hit from the advent of AI and companies will need to devise strategies to deal with this reversal. “The next wave of technological evolution may put an end to the boom in communications and the rise of internet-enabled BPO. In this context, the business sector has a responsibility not only to society but also to itself to think seriously about how AI can augment the workforce rather than replace it.” On the impact of AI in the services sector, the survey said the study suggests that AI is likely to “gradually curb growth opportunities in business services,” thus posing challenges to long-term sustainability and job creation.
However, the study noted that while AI poses challenges for employment, it also emerges as an opportunity to create jobs. “India's relatively low operational costs and the world's second-largest pool of highly skilled AI, machine learning and big data workers make it an attractive destination for AI investments.” With a large demographic dividend and a very young population, India is “uniquely positioned” in that AI poses both risks and opportunities.
