The head of a major Indian technology company believes artificial intelligence agents will eventually make up half of the workforce at tech firms, matching the number of human employees.
During Tuesday’s shareholder meeting, Chairman N Chandrasekaran of Tata Consultancy Services told attendees that his company expects this transformation to happen across the information technology industry. While TCS won’t eliminate current positions, the firm plans to reduce new hiring. The company previously eliminated over 12,000 positions last July.
“If the company has half a million employees, the day is not far when the company will have half a million AI agents… The company’s employees and AI agents will work together and that will be the future,” Chandrasekaran stated.
India’s information technology industry, valued at $315 billion, faces growing pressure from investors worried that artificial intelligence might upend its traditional model that relies heavily on human workers.
The chairman explained that increased adoption of AI technology would decrease hiring numbers at both his company and throughout the broader tech sector, as automation takes over functions previously handled by people.
However, Chandrasekaran noted that companies adjusting to AI-powered operations would create fresh positions and possibilities.
“Some of the work being done will go to AI agents. That will be the nature of the transition that we have to go through not only as a company, as an industry, and as a country,” he explained.
