68% of employees say, AI to partially or fully automate their jobs: IIM-A study

By A Representative
An Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) report has claimed that white-collar workers are ready to embrace AI-driven transformations, even as admitting that the gap in AI education and upskilling needs to be filled in.
The report, said to be amongst the earliest studies of the topic, says, it provides critical inputs for informed policymaking, strategic planning, and effective workforce development initiatives.

The Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CDSA) at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), in collaboration with the Wadhwani Foundation, released the report at an IIM-A function on the perceived and expected impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Indian white-collar workers.

The event was attended by Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA; Prakash Kumar, CEO, Wadhwani Centre for Government Digital Transformation; Professor Sriram Sankaranarayanan, Co-Chairperson (CDSA), IIMA; and authors of the report.
The report, titled “Labour-force Perception about AI - A Study on Indian White-collar Workers”, finds that AI’s impact is not futuristic any longer; it has already begun. Some key findings from the report are:

55% of employees surveyed reported that they have used AI tools at their workplaces. Furthermore, 48% of survey participants indicated that their organisations provided them training to use these tools.
The benefits of AI for efficiency and productivity improvement are also being experienced. 72% of respondents acknowledge that AI boosts their work performance, and 59% believe that AI complements their job functions.
How much disruption is expected in the job landscape for the white-collar workers? 68% of employees expect AI to partially or fully automate their jobs within the next five years. Further, 40% are concerned that their current skills may become redundant. However, the scenario is not all bleak. 53% of respondents thought AI will create new jobs.
The perception survey reveals some structural weaknesses which need to be addressed. The current graduation/postgraduate setup is not optimal for the AI era. The awareness and adoption of AI tools and AI training are low among recent graduates and entry-level workers (less than five years of experience). This may indicate a gap in their current education and training, which organisations can address through training and upskilling programmes.
Further AI adoption and awareness is uneven across industries, at least as far as the survey sample is concerned. Education, IT, manufacturing, and healthcare are actively training and exposing employees to AI. Retail and trade, and infrastructure are laggards in this aspect. Public administration is well-informed and tends to expose its employees to AI. A surprise finding in this study is the finance and insurance industry not featuring among the top industries in training and exposing their employees to AI – but this shortfall in perception may be due to the higher expectations from these industries.

Speaking during the report launch, Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA, said, “We must accept the fact that AI, ML, AR-VR, and other cutting-edge technologies have transitioned from being mere elements of science fiction to becoming integral parts of our present reality. The AI age is upon us, and its influence is growing significantly within the workforce and across various industries."

Businesses and employees are realising the potential for enhanced efficiency and innovation through AI technologies, while industries are beginning to grasp the transformative impact of AI on everything from customer service to product development. This report is very timely as it provides critical insights into the growing awareness and adoption of AI by employees and businesses for long-term success”, he added.
Sharing insights about the report, Professor Anindya Chakrabarti, a faculty member in the Economics Area of IIMA and lead Principal Investigator of the study, said, “AI is a strategic imperative for India, critical for maintaining and enhancing its economic competitiveness. In face of the global concerns about the negative effects of AI on employment, the Indian corporate sector and policymakers must understand how AI can sustain and complement employment rather than substituting it."

According to him, "With a strong talent pool, a vibrant startup ecosystem, and a data-rich environment, India is well-positioned to capitalize on AI advancements. The study shows the white-collar workforce is embracing AI tools, and that is a good thing."

"Business leaders and policymakers should recognize the high adoption rate as a pivotal moment in India’s pursuit of AI advancement. The report advocates the need of AI-centric coordination at the national level to build strong collaboration among academia, industry, and government and spearhead diverse efforts to maintain a balanced path between productivity growth and concentration of economic gain”, he added.

This research report represents one of the earliest efforts to understand AI’s impact on India’s white-collar workforce, offering valuable insights for policymakers, business leaders, and the academic community for informed policy-making, strategic planning, and effective workforce development initiatives, said an IIM-A source.

The findings are based on detailed interviews with 31 business executives, a field survey of over 550 white-collar employees, and an analysis of over 70,000 job vacancies in India from public data sources.
The report is co-authored by Prof. Anindya Chakrabarti - Economics Area, IIMA; Prof. Ankur Sinha - Operation and Decision Sciences Area and Co-Chairperson (CDSA), IIMA; Prof. Aditya C. Moses - Human Resource Management Area, IIMA; Mr. Deep Narayan Mukherjee - Partner, Boston Consulting Group (BCG); Mr. Debjit Ghatak – former Centre Head, Brij Disa CDSA, IIMA; and Amita Todkar - Research Associate, Brij Disa CDSA, IIMA; along with Wadhwani Foundation as the research partner.
---
Click on this link to access the report

Comments

India's chemical industry: The missing piece of Atmanirbhar Bharat

By N.S. Venkataraman* Rarely a day passes without the Prime Minister or a cabinet minister speaking about the importance of Atmanirbhar Bharat . The Start-up India scheme is a pillar in promoting this vision, and considerable enthusiasm has been reported in promoting start-up projects across the country. While these developments are positive, Atmanirbhar Bharat does not seem to have made significant progress within the Indian chemical industry . This is a matter of high concern that needs urgent and dispassionate analysis.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Remembering a remarkable rebel: Personal recollections of Comrade Himmat Shah

By Rajiv Shah I first came in contact with Himmat Shah in the second half of the 1970s during one of my routine visits to Ahmedabad , my maternal hometown. I do not recall the exact year, but at that time I was working in Delhi with the CPI -owned People’s Publishing House (PPH) as its assistant editor, editing books and writing occasional articles for small periodicals. Himmatbhai — as I would call him — worked at the People’s Book House (PBH), the CPI’s bookshop on Relief Road in Ahmedabad.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Minority rights group writes to Gujarat CEO, flags serious issues in SIR process

By A Representative The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat has submitted a formal representation to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Gujarat, Harit Shukla (IAS), highlighting serious irregularities and difficulties faced by voters in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of the electoral roll. The organisation warned that if corrective measures are not taken urgently, a large number of eligible citizens may be deprived of their voting rights.

Search This Blog