Milind Lakkad, the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), feels that artificial intelligence technology won’t replace jobs, but rather assume the role of an “AI co-worker,” according to fresh reports. TCS is the country’s biggest IT services firm with a workforce comprising over 6 lakh employees. Lakkad supposedly believes that AI platforms will boost productivity while having no impact on the business models of organisations.
“…it (generative AI) will be a co-worker. It will be a co-worker and that co-worker will take time for them to understand the context of the customer,” Lakkad said in an interview. According to Lakkad, customer-centricity and industry will continue to drive and provide context to business execution. And for task completion, assistance in the form of human intervention is pivotal, with AI aiding the process.
“It is not that jobs will get replaced, but the job definitions will change,” the CHRO explained to address concerns about prospects of jobs in the IT industry, which is one of the leading recruiters of engineering talent in India.
The advent of AI software like ChatGPT has caused widespread concerns around the globe regarding its potential to take over a variety of jobs. The OpenAI offering can generate entire codes, and many recent mass layoffs by big tech companies around the world have been attributed to the emergence of such platforms.
Lakkad asserts that context is of the utmost importance in terms of customer service, and is the crux of a company’s competitive edge. It might make certain managerial roles redundant, but the requirement of workers lower down the hierarchy will remain intact, he adds.
“It’s (generative AI) a good thing to happen for the future, but I think it will be collaboration rather than replacement,” Lakkad remarked.