AI won't take jobs, says Cognizant CEO: What is the reality for engineering graduates?

Time of India

11-06-2025

Credit: iStock images
Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to our most cherished science fiction novels—it has manifested into reality. Even before its full maturity, AI has already begun to wreak havoc in the job market.
It remains the central figure in the debate over whether robots will eventually substitute humans.
With apprehensive hearts, software developers, like many other professionals, find themselves in jeopardy. As the world watches artificial intelligence evolve from a helpful assistant into a near-human coder, a seismic shift is underway, one that has left recent engineering graduates standing at a precarious intersection. Are they on the cusp of a golden age of opportunity, as some industry titans suggest, or at the edge of a cliff, staring into an uncertain, AI-automated mirage?
At the heart of this high-stakes debate is a bold claim by Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar, who told Business Insider, "AI won't take jobs; it will create more." But as layoffs surge, coding is increasingly automated, and hiring freezes grip Big Tech, the question persists: What is the real future awaiting fresh engineering talent?
Kumar's contrarian thesis: 'You'll need more freshers, not fewer'
Ravi Kumar's perspective offers a breath of optimism in a conversation often dominated by doomsday predictions.
Leading over 350,000 employees at Cognizant, he has witnessed firsthand how AI tools have democratized expertise. According to Kumar, AI isn't eliminating the need for junior developers—it's amplifying their value.
'Tech disruptions so far put information on your fingertips. This is a technology that is going to put expertise on your fingertips,' Kumar told Business Insider. And the data seems to back him up—productivity gains among Cognizant's bottom 50% of developers rose by 37% with the aid of AI, far outpacing the top-tier performers.
His argument is simple yet revolutionary: As AI cuts off the premium on deep expertise, it flattens the learning curve, making it viable for firms to onboard more freshers, AI is a ladder, not a lever for redundancy.
But is this optimism reflective of the broader industry?
A glaring contradiction: Fewer jobs, higher efficiency
In stark contrast, companies like Salesforce and Meta are quietly rewriting the rules of In a paradoxical situation, companies like Salesforce and Meta are quietly rewriting the rules of recruitment.
Salesforce is trimming off job roles and has reduced hiring, according to media reports.
This sentiment echoes across Silicon Valley. Microsoft's engineers are now relying on AI to write 20–30% of company code. At Google, AI is already responsible for over 30% of new code. Meta, meanwhile, is developing models capable of writing software 'at the level of a mid-level engineer,' according to Mark Zuckerberg.
The stark consequences are undeniable.
Fresh graduate hires at Big Tech have plummeted: Only 7% of new hires in 2024 were recent graduates, compared to over 15% pre-pandemic. Startups, once the fallback for the ambitious coder, have slashed their entry-level intake from 30% in 2019 to just 6% this year.
While AI expands output, the irony is unpardonable it increases productivity by replacing the need for more hands on deck.
Two narratives, one disrupted pipeline
What explains this cognitive dissonance between Kumar's hopeful projection and the corporate austerity across other tech giants?
Part of the answer lies in how AI is implemented.
For Cognizant, AI is augmentative, a tool to boost human capability. For firms like Salesforce or Duolingo, it's increasingly substitutive, a way to do more with fewer humans. The definition of 'productivity' is evolving, and with it, the very notion of what constitutes valuable work.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sits somewhat in the middle. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, he called AI 'an accelerator,' not a job destroyer.
He argued that while some entry-level roles may vanish, the net effect of AI could be to unlock new product cycles and hence new roles, though he did not deny that short-term job dislocations are already happening.
So what, then, is the reality?
The truth for engineering graduates: Between hope and hardship
The truth is neither black nor white. While AI is unlikely to wipe out all entry-level engineering jobs overnight, it is undoubtedly reshaping the criteria for entry. Traditional coding prowess may no longer be enough.
Soft skills, systems thinking, interdisciplinary fluency, and the ability to collaborate with AI tools are fast becoming the new gold standard.
Furthermore, there's a clear bifurcation emerging. In services-oriented firms like Cognizant, demand for junior talent may hold steady, especially if the goal is to deliver scalable tech at cost-efficient rates. But in innovation-centric firms, think Meta, Google, Salesforce, the bar is rising, and AI is increasingly becoming the entry-level engineer.
For graduates, the message is sobering but not hopeless: adapt or be automated.
Reconciling promise with pragmatism
AI is not an inevitable grim reaper nor an unconditional savior. Rather, it is a force multiplier, one whose impact depends heavily on the institutional intent behind its deployment. Ravi Kumar's vision of an inclusive, AI-enhanced future is not naïve; it is aspirational. But the current hiring freeze across the board cannot be brushed aside either.
The onus now lies on academia, policymakers, and industry leaders to ensure that the AI revolution does not leave a generation behind. For fresh engineers, the road ahead is narrower, but not closed. With the right upskilling, strategic awareness, and adaptability, they may not only survive this transformation but also lead it.
In the final analysis, the question isn't whether AI will take jobs, it's whether we're preparing our young minds to work with AI, not against it.
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