India must coordinate efforts between government, businesses and educational institutions to retrain workers if the nation wants to emerge as an artificial intelligence leader, according to a senior IBM executive who warns that AI technology poses risks to the country’s status as a major global services provider.
Speaking to Reuters on Monday, IBM India head Sandip Patel emphasized that the South Asian country’s substantial young population could provide a significant edge in the worldwide competition to embrace and profit from AI technology, which corporations believe can boost efficiency.
“That demographic dividend, that’s sitting here, unleashing that is a phenomenal opportunity,” Patel said. “You will be at a 350 million AI-trained workforce that can be deployed not just here, but can be doing work around the world.”
With more than half of India’s approximately 1.4 billion citizens younger than 30, the world’s most populated country possesses an enormous youthful labor force. The nation also graduates millions of engineers annually who now confront potential displacement from AI systems capable of automating activities such as computer programming.
IBM, which committed in December to training 5 million Indians in AI, cybersecurity and quantum computing before 2030, reports that roughly 30% of the country’s existing technology workers possess the AI capabilities that companies require. The corporation is collaborating with government officials on training programs.
Patel additionally stated that India would require enhanced intellectual property safeguards to become a leader in developing commercially viable technology, noting that businesses need stronger confidence that intellectual property created domestically would remain legally protected and profitable internationally.
IBM has been growing its operations in smaller cities closer to its recruitment areas and client locations, allowing the company to access talent beyond India’s overcrowded technology centers, according to Patel.
The corporation’s workforce in the southern city of Kochi has expanded to almost 4,000 workers over two years, and the company recently established operations in Lucknow.
