AI effect: Business efficiency but puffed-out workers?

Upskill. Upgrade. Retrain. Reskill. Words that are sprinkled liberally in the business updates of many listed firms of India Inc. While companies have begun to boast of their fast-increasing count of workers skilled in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, for us employees, the quickened pace of upskilling seems to be a race. A race that many did not volunteer to participate in, but cannot afford to watch from the sidelines. It is ironical that AI, which is expected to ease business complexities, may end up exhausting employees being pushed to Upskill, Upgrade and Retrain.

- DEVINA SENGUPTA

Upskill. Upgrade. Retrain. Reskill. Words that are sprinkled liberally in the business updates of many listed firms of India Inc. While companies have begun to boast of their fast-increasing count of workers skilled in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, for us employees, the quickened pace of upskilling seems to be a race. A race that many did not volunteer to participate in, but cannot afford to watch from the sidelines. It is ironical that AI, which is expected to ease business complexities, may end up exhausting employees being pushed to Upskill, Upgrade and Retrain. The frenetic pace of AI adoption will probably extract its pound of flesh at some point, even if India Inc would rather talk about the productivity marvels of this new technology.

According to a study, 'AI at Work Is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part,' by Microsoft and LinkedIn, 75% of corporate India's business leaders have refused to hire someone lacking in AI skills, out-scoring the global average of 66%. "AI skills outweigh experience, with 80% of leaders in India preferring to hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills over a more experienced candidate without them," noted the study released in May this year. And 91% of the leaders in India believe that their firms need to adopt AI, versus 75% globally.