As AI transforms work, women have the most to lose

Trust, empathy and critical thinking will become the currency of work as machines master routine tasks

- Feon Ang

In APAC, the pace of workplace change has gone from steady to seismic. Generative AI isn't just accelerating transformation, it's redrawing the map of opportunity in real time. Generative AI has taken what felt like a steady march of progress and turned it into a sprint over shifting ground. In India, half of today's fastest-growing jobs didn't exist at the turn of the millennium. By 2030, the skills needed to perform them will change by nearly two-thirds.

Al can free us from tedious work. But if we're not careful, it can deepen divides just as quickly.

We're seeing Al is reshaping jobs in three distinct ways: it's taking over repetitive tasks so people can focus on higher-value work; it's automating entire roles built on predictability; and it's leaving certain jobs largely untouched, which are the ones where human judgement and trust can’t be replaced.

In theory, AI should expand opportunity. But in reality, women are standing closer to the edge. In India, 80% of women are in roles that could be augmented or disrupted by AI, compared to 75% of men. Many of these roles are concentrated in sectors like technology, retail, finance, and media, and these industries are found to be driving India's growth story today.