Wipro trained over 30,000 employees in advanced Gen AI skills: Rishad Premji

Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji

Over 30,000 Wipro employees have received advanced training in Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) skills tailored to their specific roles, Chairman Rishad Premji said in his letter to shareholders as part of the company’s Annual Report for FY24.

Information technology (IT) companies have doubled down on Gen AI as it enters every client conversation. As a result, IT service companies are investing significantly in developing Gen AI tools, services, and offerings.

“We have imparted training in basic Gen AI fundamentals to over 225,000 employees, and 30,000 of them have received advanced training tailored to their specific roles,” Premji was quoted as saying in the report.

Wipro has actively deployed Gen AI across internal processes, driving hundreds of use cases. For example, the Bengaluru-based company’s AI-powered self-service enterprise chatbot WiNow, is being used by nearly all its employees and has served about 65 lakh queries.

“On the average, WiNow responds to employees in 6 seconds, significantly improving productivity in critical tasks like approvals and onboarding, as well as reducing the cost to serve,” Premji added.

He highlighted that widespread AI adoption demands strong change management. Premji added that equipping Wipro’s workforce to collaborate with AI through training and clear communication is crucial.

In FY24, the company made significant investment in its 'ai360' strategy, creating an end-to-end innovation ecosystem integrating AI into every platform, tool, and solution used both internally and with clients.

“We are investing in expanding our strategic partnerships with key players, such as AWS, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Nvidia and our own platforms through our innovation arm Lab45, as well as the Wipro Enterprise Generative AI (WeGA) studio,” he was further quoted in the release.

Over the past year, Gen AI has gone from being a topic of curiosity, to now as a core component of long-term strategies for value creation. “AI offers a unique opportunity to reshape industries, drive efficiencies, and unlock innovation, and we aim to be at the forefront of this transformation,” Premji added.

He said that FY24 has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging years in the company’s history. Technology spending of clients was adversely affected due to the volatile global economic climate.

“These headwinds, however, have only strengthened our resolve. We remain committed to innovation and are dedicated to investing in our future,” he said.

Nonetheless, the fundamentals of Wipro’s business remain unchanged despite some of the short-term challenges, Premji added. Clients continued to prioritise digital transformation, leveraging AI to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and drive future growth.

As a positive early indicator, Wipro also saw green shoots in its consulting business in the second half of the year despite subdued discretionary spending in the first half. As in the past years, we persisted in investing for our future.

Also read: Wipro investing significantly in AI and Gen AI startups, says CTO Tatavarti