With 16% of world's AI talent, India set to be an AI innovation hub, says Eco Survey

The widespread adoption of AI across the services sector can significantly reshape and even replace jobs

India is positioning itself as an innovation hub for artificial intelligence (AI), housing 16 percent of the world's AI talent and demonstrating rapid adoption of AI skills, the government said in the Economic Survey 2023-24 that was tabled in Parliament on July 22.

There were over 13,000 startups that covered sectors like AI, Internet of Things, robotics, and nanotechnology as of March 31, 2024, the pre-Budget document said.

Over the past year, numerous global tech executives have emphasized India's prowess in artificial intelligence, attributing it to the country's rapidly expanding developer community.

Recently, GitHub chief executive Thomas Dohmke told Moneycontrol that India can be a global leader in artificial intelligence due to a high number of computer sciences students, engineering disciplines in India and the sheer size of the population.

"India is on the brink of a great convergence between the world's largest population of developers and the newfound possibility of AI (artificial intelligence). If enabled, this great convergence will generate a consequential economic boom in India," Dohmke said.

Google's AI head Jeff Dean also told Moneycontrol that the country’s large pool of technical talent positions the country well to help shape the future of artificial intelligence.

That said, the government states in the survey that India, with its vast demographic dividend and a very young population, is uniquely situated as AI poses both risk and opportunity.

AI will reshape future of work

The widespread adoption of AI across the services sector can significantly reshape and even replace jobs, the survey notes.

It mentions that the advent of AI casts a "huge pall of uncertainty" regarding its impact on workers of all skill levels (low, semi and high).

"While AI has considerable potential for boosting productivity, it also has the potential to disrupt employment in certain sectors" the government said in the survey.

Routine tasks, including customer service, will likely witness a high degree of automation while creative sectors will see extensive usage of AI tools for image and video creation, the survey said.

Personalised AI tutors can reshape education and sectors like healthcare can witness accelerated drug discovery, it added.

"With artificial intelligence taking roots in several spheres of economic activity, the job market must adapt while steering the technological choices towards collective welfare is key" the government said in the survey.

The survey also mentions a staff discussion note of the International Monetary Fund from June 2024 that states that generative Artificial Intelligence raises "profound concerns about massive labour disruptions and inequality"

These could create barriers and hurdles to sustained high growth rates for India in the coming years and decades, the survey notes.

"Given the affinity of India’s population to work with technology, as seen with the digital public infrastructure, proactive interventions by the government and industry can position India as a key player in the AI age" the government says in the survey.