The debate around artificial intelligence has largely been framed around a single question: Will it take away jobs?

But at The Hindu Huddle’s session on “I, Robot: How AI is reshaping the future of work”, industry veterans argued that India risks missing a far more important conversation — how to redesign education, skilling, research, and businesses for an AI-led future.

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The panel, moderated by Businessline editor Raghuvir Srinivasan, brought together former Cognizant CEO Lakshmi Narayanan, former NASSCOM president and NITI Aayog distinguished fellow Debjani Ghosh, and former Saint-Gobain India chairman B. Santhanam.

For Ms. Ghosh, the current narrative around AI-driven job losses is often misplaced. “A lot of the displacements till now were due to overhiring during the pandemic. So it was correction that was happening,” she said, pushing back against the view that AI is already eliminating large numbers of jobs.

That does not mean the risks are insignificant. As AI systems become capable of performing routine and repetitive tasks, entry-level jobs are likely to come under the greatest pressure.

“The entry-level will definitely get disrupted. And that is important because that’s millions of people in India and millions of youngsters in India,” Ms. Ghosh said.

The challenge, she argued, is not to resist AI but to redesign work around it. Rather than viewing jobs as fixed roles, employers and policymakers need to break them down into tasks and identify the areas that can be automated and those which continue to require human judgement.

That future, she said, will be defined by what she called the “human sandwich model”. “You need the humans to frame the questions and inputs, AI does the work, and then you need humans again at the end to verify the outcome,” she said, adding that the model will become even more critical as autonomous AI agents become commonplace.

The conversation soon moved beyond jobs to India’s place in the global AI economy.

While India has emerged as one of the world’s largest digital markets, Ms. Ghosh warned that being a consumer of technology is not the same as creating value from it.

“If you look at the 17.6 trillion prediction of how much value AI will create in the next five years, 80% of that is going to two countries, the U.S. and China. For India, we should at least aspire to get 10% of that,” she said.

Mr. Santhanam, however, believes India’s biggest opportunity may not lie in competing head-on with Silicon Valley’s frontier models. Instead, he argued that the country can create disproportionate impact through the diffusion of AI across sectors such as agriculture, education and healthcare.

“The most important work is in diffusion in these three areas — agriculture, education and health. That’s where I think AI can do what humans cannot do,” he said.

He pointed to examples where AI-powered solutions developed for Indian agricultural ecosystems were adapted for use elsewhere within months, highlighting the country’s ability to deploy technology at scale.

Yet Mr. Santhanam reserved his sharpest criticism for corporate India.

“In the Nifty 45, there are 230 independent directors. Less than 10% of them have any understanding or knowledge of technology. That’s the state of our boards,” he said.

The lack of engagement with AI at the board level, he argued, is particularly concerning at a time when the technology is rapidly transforming industries. “Not one company in the managing director’s report had AI mentioned. Not one. That’s shocking.”

Mr. Narayanan echoed concerns about India’s preparedness, particularly in education and research. Asked whether Indian colleges are producing graduates ready for the AI era, his answer was blunt.

“The short answer is no.”

India has historically excelled at adopting and scaling technologies, he said, but has underinvested in the invention and research that drive technological leadership. “We are not investing enough in research. The blame goes to the private sector,” he said.

The former Cognizant chief argued that while India is comfortable with diffusion, it needs far stronger capabilities in innovation and research if it hopes to play a meaningful role in shaping the next wave of AI.

Taken together, the panellists painted a picture that was neither utopian nor alarmist. AI will disrupt jobs, particularly at the bottom of the pyramid. It will create new opportunities as well. But whether India emerges as a creator of value or merely a consumer of it will depend on how quickly it can overhaul its classrooms, boardrooms and workforce for a technology that is moving faster than any before it.

The Hindu Huddle is presented by the Sami-Sabinsa Group as the Presenting Partner. The event is co-powered by the Government of Telangana and held in association with Khaja Bandanawaz University.

The event is further supported by Bank of Baroda, Larsen & Toubro, Apollo Hospitals, IIM Sirmaur, ICFAI Group, TAFE, Wizzmon, Uttarakhand Government, Associate Partners; Casagrand, Realty Partner; Toyota, Luxury Car Partner; Amity University Bengaluru, University Partner; Harrow International School Bengaluru, Education Partner; Meghalaya Tourism, State Partner; and NDTV 24x7, TV Partner.

Watch the full session here: