As AI continues to rebuild its industry at a fierce speed, Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer at Cisco, says the biggest threat to workers is not automation, but behind.
“There's no need to worry about AI getting a job,” Patel told Yahoo Finance's Morning Brief: Market Sunrise. “Are you worried about using AI to make your work better.”
Patel argues that AI is accelerating and winners will be quick and skillful acceptance of the tool. “There will be two types of companies,” Patel added. “Those who are very skilled in using AI and those who struggle because of their relevance.”
Traditionally recognized by networking software, Cisco has now evolved into a core AI infrastructure provider. The company develops tools and security systems to encourage AI companies to adoption.
According to an internal Cisco survey, 97% of CEOs say they are optimistic about AI, but feel they are ready to implement it. That gap comes down to three core hurdles: inadequate infrastructure, security concerns and a shortage of skilled workers.
Patel says the company has great potential, but it is seeing a real bottleneck. “There's really a huge demand for people who are skilled by using AI to be hired,” he added.
Several infrastructure challenges are associated with how AI changes software engineering. Applications used to work in a consistent way. However, the large language model, the engine behind AI chatbots, can act in unpredictable ways.
“The model is non-deterministic,” explained Patel. “That means they can hallucinate.” Cisco offers solutions with built-in security, behavioral monitoring, input validation, and usage guardrails, with the aim of making AI safe enough for scalable adoption.
“If people can't trust AI, they don't use it,” Patel said. To preempt AI Curve, Cisco has expanded its partnership and is working with companies such as Openai (Opai.Pvt), Humanity (Anth.Pvt), NVIDIA (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Patel said Cisco's stock, which exceeded 49% last year, reflects increased confidence in its AI strategy. “Trillions of dollars will be spent on AI infrastructure,” he said. “Yesterday's data center won't cut that,” he added that the winner of the AI race will ensure economic and national security control.
Francisco Velazquez is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can contact him LinkedIn and x.
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