As artificial intelligence quickly advances in its development, talk about its intended impact on jobs grows. For many, AI conjures up images of mass unemployment and displacing jobs. Actually, the reality is more subtle. While, yes, AI will dramatically reshape industries, it’s unlikely to be the end of work altogether. Indeed, AI is slated to unlock new opportunities and must bring about a balance of disruption and innovation across the sectors. The country at the forefront of this change is indeed the one growing at the fastest pace, that is India. With focused government initiatives and a new impetus on reskilling, the country readies itself to adapt rather than eliminate the AI revolution.
How AI Transforms Jobs in India
NITI Aayog, Indian government’s think tank, has in a landmark report estimated that AI could increase the Indian economy from $957 billion to 15% of the country’s current GDP by 2035. It leads to increased productivity and more innovation, it will also bring with it the inevitable displacement of jobs, at least in repetitive-task industries. History has proven that advancements in technology do not necessarily result in unemployment but in the transformation of work.
According to the report by the World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2023, AI is expected to replace as many as 85 million jobs worldwide by 2025. However, another 97 million new roles are also projected in AI development, data analytics, and cybersecurity areas. This could represent a boom for skilled professionals, especially those specializing in AI-driven industries, in India, which currently aspires to IT and digital services as a backbone for economic growth.
Agriculture
AI is instrumental in transforming the agriculture sector, which accounts for over 44% of India’s workforce. Applications range from precision farming to weather forecasting and pest control. The MeitY has been promoting AI solutions to optimize farming, which will boost productivity multi-fold. Though some manual jobs will be affected and displaced, new opportunities are emerging in agri-tech development and AI-driven agricultural support services.
Health-care
AI is revolutionizing healthcare exponentially and has the potential to bridge some gaps in doctor-patient ratio challenges in India. The National Digital Health Mission (NDHM)will include AI in its diagnostic tools, telemedicine, and hospital management systems. The rise of AI applications in diagnostics-early disease diagnosis through medical imaging and predictive analytics-skyrocketed the demand for professionals who have AI and machine learning skills. Health care is going to see a 40% productivity lift, with lots of new jobs based on AI-driven medical solutions right from telehealth platforms to robotic surgeries.
Manufacturing
India Make in India 2.0 is all about the integration of AI in the manufacturing space. Here again, automation will reduce the demand for humans in those roles but open new avenues in robotics, AI programming, and machine maintenance. According to ILO, AI Technology, automation will displace jobs in repetitive disciplines like textiles while providing new opportunities to better-skilled professionals in the AI technology management sector.
Government Initiative towards checkmating Job Loss:
Based on realizing the degree of technological change to hit the country soon, the Indian government is now concentrating on having the least possible disturbance caused by AI to their economy.
Several initiatives are already setting the ground for this change:
Digital India and PMGDISHA In order to make India digitally literate, the Digital India initiative aims at bridging the digitally illiterate gap. Under this Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), basic digital skills of six crore citizens will be pursued. These foundational skills would be very important when people become increasingly looking for a new role in the digital economy.
In a joint statement, MeitY and NASSCOM launched FutureSkills Prime, an online skills platform focused upon skilling and re-skilling Indian professionals in emerging technologies, AI, machine learning, and data science.
Over a million professionals have already passed through its platform and continue to train millions more because of rising demand for AI skills. In NEP 2020 a very significant focus of the National Education Policy 2020 is placed on AI, coding, and data science for education in high schools as well as colleges. The Ministry of Education has also invested in AI research centers at elite universities. In fact, India is standing on a platform to absorb the AI revolution and even lead it by integrating AI into education from the initial phases.
AI’s Job Creation Potential
AI can turn out to be a major job creator for India. Report by NASSCOM 2021 outlines that the demand for AI and related skills will rise by about 60% by 2025. Major areas of exponential growth include AI programming, data science, cybersecurity, and ethics in AI. The India AI report by AIM Research predicts that the country’s AI market will grow to a CAGR of 20.2% between 2021 and 2026 and potentially create 1.4 million new jobs in areas such as machine learning, robotics, and AI software development. In fact, Accenture’s India report on AI points out that AI is likely to create up to 6.8 million new jobs by 2030, mainly in high-skill domains like AI development, automation, and machine learning engineering.
Reskilling for the Future
The AI-driven economy is already unfolding, and India is steadily getting set to have its workforce ready for this change. In fact, the route by which job displacement is largely prevented is reskilling and lifelong learning. AI will automate routine tasks but free up opportunities for creativity, emotional intelligence, subtle decision-making and interpersonal skills in organizations. Fields of application for AI will differ across healthcare, agriculture, and manufacturing-and all these are well-guessed areas where the amount of displacement will have a much more significant impact on jobs than the sweeping new opportunities that they present. As technology takes the mundane off human plates, it lets people work on ingenious tasks that involve so much compassion-the two qualities that machines are never going to replace.
Not a ZERO-SUM game
The AI revolution is not a zero-sum game in terms of jobs. It transforms industries but can create millions of new jobs related to emerging technologies. With initiatives like Digital India, Future Skills Prime, and AI-driven education reforms as part of NEP 2020, India seems on the right path toward harnessing opportunities by AI. Without doubt, AI is going to change the nature of work altogether, but as long as we remain aware of continuous learning and adaptability, then we can expect an evolutionary change among the workforce, instead of vanishing. Rather than being afraid of losing a job, it is high time to face the light of new jobs and businesses by AI and build a new future where humans and AI will collaborate for a smarter and more productive economy.
