AI will create more jobs, not eliminate them: TCS CEO
What's the story
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO, K Krithivasan, has said that artificial intelligence (AI) could actually create more jobs.
He was speaking during an interview with CNBC-TV18 at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland.
Krithivasan stressed the need for workers to learn new skills to keep up with AI technologies.
Workforce adaptation
AI's impact on workforce and skill requirements
Krithivasan said, "Workforce will have to develop new skills to adapt to AI. We may end up having more people, instead of seeing a reduction in workforce, due to the quantum of work increasing with GenAI."
He also emphasized that programmers' roles will change as GenAI goes more mainstream. This points toward a transformation in job roles and skill requirements in the IT industry.
Hiring outlook
TCS's hiring plans and focus on engineering culture
Despite a net decline of 5,370 employees in Q3 2024, TCS plans to hire 40,000 campus trainees this fiscal year and even more in the next.
Krithivasan reiterated his commitment to fostering an engineering culture at TCS.
He stated that the company's focus for 2025 is growth with small tweaks instead of big changes, underscoring the importance of building on TCS's intellectual property (IP).
Business impact
AI's influence on IT services business model
However, Krithivasan doesn't see a major change in the larger IT services business model with AI.
Francisco D'Souza, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Recognize, reiterated this opinion, stressing that future IT services firms will have to invest in building specialization through intellectual property.
All of this indicates a slow evolution of the IT industry toward more specialized roles and skill sets.