Artificial intelligence and the level of impact it will have on the industry has to be approached with ‘paranoia’ and not complacency, according to two tech industry honchos, who were speaking on AI at a Nasscom event.
“You need to be more paranoid about the level of impact it can have … and I think if you approach it with that paranoia and then exits, existential threats… I think we will all come out winners in the long term,” said HCL Technologies’ CEO C Vijayakumar, who said that Indian tech firms needed to develop their own language models, as AI was disrupting the sector.
This view was echoed by Infosys CEO Salil Parekh. “I think we have to be paranoid,” he said, adding that industry should not be complacent. “That is the way we can manage to keep up with what’s going on in the industry.”
Talking to businessline later, Vijayakumar said IT models need to shift their focus to output and outcomes from the current focus on inputs and numbers of people. “People-based services should give way to platform-based services, and instead of services it should be IP-infused solutions,” he said.
“Generative-AI offered productivity possibilities, but productivity is not easy to achieve and customers will be looking more at outcomes from service providers rather than inputs. AI reduces the cost of services to clients, and it results in an increasing wallet share with higher volume of business,” he added. The company is increasingly utilising AI in its services and expanding the number of clients where it is implemented. We want to show them significant usage of AI.”
The current pyramid structure will see an evolution, as people with different skill sets are hired. Expectations from entry-level hires will be higher, he added. With respect to hiring for AI, Vijayakumar said, the current focus was on upskilling internal talent and that external hiring of AI talent will be a small number with specialised skills.