AI regulations key to safe usage amid possible disruption: Tech experts
Artificial intelligence
is ushering in a new era of productivity as well as risks that enterprises and the government need to be prepared for, industry leaders said on Thursday. While AI will be a catalyst for India's economic growth, guardrails and governance will be key to adopt the technology safely and to build resilience amid possible disruption, they said.
'If we truly want to move towards Viksit Bharat in 2047, that will be rooted in technological empowerment, inclusive economic growth, and
digital sovereignty
, and AI truly can be an accelerator,' said Sandip Patel, MD, IBM India & South Asia.
AI adoption in India
is higher than in other countries, as per a global survey carried out by IBM, Patel said. However, this is more experimentation while adoption at scale still lags.
Gaps in trust and confidence in the technology are a key reason for this, he said, adding that credible cases with the right ROI are also needed. IBM itself is adopting the technology, with 95% of its HR processes now being done using AI agents, said Patel.
Alok B Lall, COO, Microsoft India & South Asia, said businesses should look at how to reshape their processes.
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'As the world gets more agentic AI, we're hearing of terms like human-in-the-loop, human-on-the-loop and human-out-of-the-loop, as agents get to be more autonomous and they do most of the work by talking to other agents,' he said.
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At the same time, enterprises need to empower their employees with AI, he added. 'It's not just about giving them a tool that helps them to use AI, it's fundamentally changing the way organisations are looking at talent – do you need somebody with 20 years of experience or you could get somebody with lesser experience with a powerful AI assistant?'
AI is bringing a moment of irreversible acceleration where intelligence is not confined to machines but also gets embedded into life itself, said Debjani Ghosh, distinguished fellow, NITI Aayog and chief architect, NITI Frontier Tech Hub.
'India will have a very key role to play in shaping this future,' said Ghosh. 'Our tradition of human centric thinking, inclusivity, respect for collective good - this must become our competitive advantage in a world that needs to get anchored in trust for its survival.'
There will be bad actors who master the technology much faster, however, and countries need to build resilience to recover quickly when things go wrong, she added.
Shiv Siddhant Kaul, co-chair, CII National AI Forum & MD, NICCO Engineering Services, said that CII's AI taskforce has been focusing on outreach and workshops to familiarise businesses with AI, especially MSMEs which may not be engaging much with the technology.
There is also a generation gap in awareness and use of AI, he said, with the 48–55 year age group lagging.
'For most companies, it's going to be existential because newer companies that are empowering younger people are going to figure out how to use AI, and our challenge will be making sure that the companies that are left behind don't leave a big-sized hole in our society in terms of employment,' Kaul said.
Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, founder & CEO, AgNext Technologies, said that startups are embracing AI and tend to do this with precise use cases rather than broad experimentation given their relatively limited resources compared to large enterprises.
When it comes to agriculture, AI can play a role in optimising inputs and measuring output quantity and quality, which would be needed to build algorithms that can help us increase food production, he said.
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