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Data centres and artificial intelligence \u201craises the value of each person who works there\u201d rather than replacing jobs, believes V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) to the Indian government, ANI reported today. The view comes amid concerns over the growth of AI global capability centres (GCC) in India.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Speaking at the GCC <\/a>Business Summit hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 9 July he said that AI requires human oversight and thus AI should be treated as a tool and not as \u201cfate\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nageswaran further noted that while cheap automation could take over routine, repetitive, and rule-bound tasks, well-run centers will the tech to enhance human roles. \u201cArtificial intelligence<\/a> requires human oversight to design, train, test, and govern the systems. AI does not therefore empty these centers. In the centers that are run well, the AI raises the value of each person who works there. So the risk is there, but that is not destiny. The centers that stand still will suffer. The centers that move up will thrive,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Further, Nageswaran feels that how countries adopt and apply AI will have significant impact on the future. \u201cA country that treats a powerful technology as fate will end up being shaped by it. A country that treats AI as a tool will shape it instead. India <\/a>must be in the second group,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The economist added that India hosts around 50% of the world’s GCCs \u2014 more than 2,000 centres employing 20 lakh employees, and sector revenue above $60 billion, which contributes close to 2% to the GDP, as per the report. Nageswaran further said that more than 1,200 of these centres perform advance AI work and machine learning<\/a> (ML), which establishes the country as the second largest enterprise AI talent base globally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cGlobal firms first came to India for cost. They stayed for capability. That’s an important difference. A cost advantage can be copied by the next low-cost country. A capability advantage is harder to build and harder to lose as well,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nageswaran further added that global banks run trading platforms in Mumbai <\/a>and Bengaluru, car makers design embedded systems in Chennai and Pune, and semiconductor firms conduct chip design locally. He also pointed to German firm Merck’s new campus in Bangalore, which holds the company’s largest concentration of digital capability worldwide, making India its fourth largest workforce hub.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSuccess can breed complacency. The advantage we hold today was built over time, but it can also erode. Other countries are watching us and copying us. Our costs are rising. In some skills, our talent is already scarce,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The CEA noted that “what began as support became engineering <\/a>and what began as engineering became product and what began as a back office became in many firms the place where global decisions are now made.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u2018AI requires human oversight to design, train, test, govern systems\u2019<\/h2>\n
India is second largest enterprise AI talent base globally<\/h2>\n
\u2018Benefit has flowed both ways\u2019<\/h2>\n