Human Cost

India’s AI story is often told as one of opportunity: small towns nurturing the talent that trains global models, rural youth gaining their first salaried jobs, and the country emerging as a key player in the world’s digital economy.

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The optimism captured in Friday's “AI Heartland” now meets its harder counterpoint, that every new wave of automation, however efficient, inevitably displaces human hands before it uplifts them.

But alongside this promise is a less celebrated reality: the very same technologies that create opportunities for some are displacing workers whose roles depend on routine, repetitive tasks. Call centre and back-office functions ~ once the backbone of India’s outsourcing boom ~ are now among the first to feel the impact of AI automation.

Chatbots and generative AI systems are increasingly capable of handling thousands of customer interactions at a fraction of the cost of human staff. Companies deploying these tools can reduce headcount by 70-80 per cent, cutting expenses while scaling operations rapidly.