How the role of leaders is evolving with AI

“The current phase of AI is not just about all the technologies that we talk about, I think it's democratising the use of AI for the common person,” says Sangeeta Gupta , VP and Chief Strategy Officer at nasscom.

She adds that it’s definitely an opportunity for the IT industry since firms will build AI for their clients, but for an individual, it’s an opportunity to up their skills and make things happen.

And upskilling, they are. Three in five workers in India won’t accept a job or will consider leaving an organisation if it did not offer opportunities to future-proof their skills, reports The Economic Times, citing a Randstad survey. AI is among the top five learning and development opportunities that India is most interested in, adds the report.

As the demand for AI talent skyrockets, leaders also have to take responsibility to ensure that their workforce is equipped to work with the technology, says a report by The Economic Times. Firms are upskilling their existing employees, and corporate-sponsored AI education programmes have jumped 50% over the last year, Krishna Kumar , Founder and CEO at Learnbay , told The Economic Times.

Leaders also need to craft a decisive GAI strategy, decide what to build internally, and ensure the entire firm is aware of the ethical and safe use of GAI, experts told The Economic Times. It is also important to assess AI skills in the workforce and create detailed job architectures that mention the AI skills required, said Amit D Mishra , co-founder and CEO, iMocha .

“If you look at the shifts of the Indian IT industry over the last 20-25 years, there have been multiple stages where there's been some kind of a transformational change, says Akhilesh Ayer, EVP and Global Business Unit Head - WNS Triange (AI, Analytics, Data & Research Business Unit), WNS at the nasscom Tech and Leadership Forum.

I think this whole revolution of Gen AI is going to be one more transformational shift, just as we begin to understand and adjust and co-opt it into a business model, says Akhilesh Ayer .

Almost 59% of Indian enterprises are actively using AI in business activities and Indian firms are leading globally in terms of AI adoption, according to an IBM report. At least 9 out of 10 Indian business leaders are also planning to increase their investment in AI in the next 12-18 months — 58% of whom view generative AI as an opportunity to boost revenue and innovation, showed a January report by Capgemini.?

The technology services industry was always very risk-averse, but firms are recognising in the AI world that if we don't make the investments into building out these POCs, building out our products and platforms, we potentially can lose the game, says Sangeeta Gupta . She adds that companies are investing into building out these AI use cases, many of which will fail. However, there's greater acceptance of failure in big companies now, according to her, especially in this world where firms cannot stay behind.

What will it take to make India’s workforce AI-ready??

Rajesh Nambiar , Chairman and MD at 高知特 Cognizant India, thinks there is one skill that will be crucial as new technologies make their way into industries. “When you look at the next generation and what they really want to do, I don't think it is about teaching them AI today. You don't know whether two-four years down the line, it may be something else,” Nambiar says.

Learnability as a skill is going to be much more important, according to him. Equipped with this skill, professionals will be able to pivot, understand and learn something new, he further emphasised.

Everything's going to change so much, so it's not just about what you know that's already out there, but how are you curious to learn what's not in your domain?, says Sangeeta Gupta , VP and Chief Strategy Officer at nasscom.?

“We have to be aware that Gen AI is going to become more mainstream, and it is very important that we reimagine the way some of the work that we do today will happen in the future and start creating training programs,” adds Akhilesh Ayer . WNS is doing this at three levels, he says — it’s about augmentation at the operational level, thinking of solutions at the middle layer, and orientation for the seniors.?

While looking at India’s AI revolution in 2024, one theme seems to be top of mind for leaders — regulation.

“How do you regulate something you don’t understand or see?” asks Rajesh Nambiar , Chairman and MD at Cognizant India.

?He adds that any regulation introduced has to be innovation-led. Many companies are already putting regulations, frameworks and policies in place in anticipation of regulation, says Ayer.

“Last year we talked about regulations. This year, we need to talk about legislation,” says AmitKumar Shrivastava , Head of AI at 富士通 . Why? Algorithms are advancing, and with that comes better synthetic data, he adds. Synthetic data will play two kinds of roles? — for good and for misuse, which makes legislation crucial, according to him. This year, he also anticipates more focus on multilingual capabilities and efforts to advance them.

“The word ‘entrepreneur’ highlights changing the pattern,? system, or frame of thinking around a particular situation, and the word ‘social’ highlights person who from deep within is committed to the good of all,” says Shruti Nair , Leadership Group Member at Ashoka South Asia in an interview with LinkedIn News India.

What are some skills essential for social entrepreneurs? The ability to think through complex strategic implementation issues, to create a realistic action plan, and strong ethical fiber, she adds.

From building a culture of changemaking to encouraging more people to bring about change within their communities from a young age — Shruti Nair , Leadership Group Member at Ashoka South Asia, Evita Fernandez , Chair and MD at Fernandez Foundation, and Anusha Bharadwaj , Executive Director at VOICE 4 Girls share what it will take to encourage the next wave of social entrepreneurs in India in a LIVE with LinkedIn News India.

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Reported by: Isha Chitnis