(AI)-aided productivity boost has saved the company $3.5 billion in the last two years.
“There is a lot of coding that is automated, but that automation of that coding does not preclude people who are good test engineers, who can develop the right kind of test scripts around it, (from evolving into) prompt engineering, which is becoming a huge discipline--so those roles are getting created,” said Patel, adding that we are yet to scratch the surface of these new roles.
“For those roles, you will need basic technology acumen of people who have the right way of thinking logically about programming and writing code,” he said.
While most Indians are apprehensive that lower-level roles in the IT sector may be taken over by AI, disrupting the traditional pyramid hiring structure, Patel believes that early professional hired talent is a good thing, with more staying power within an organisation and the ability to adapt culturally.
“Shaping talent to adapt to the kinds of technologies that you ultimately want to proliferate, I think it’s going to still be a blend of both (fresh and experienced hires),” he said.
The total number of roles within IBM in India has not dipped, Patel said, adding that the level may be higher than before it divested its managed infrastructure services arm Kyndryl in 2021.
Today, businesses haven’t yet scaled AI to the point where the jobs are being impacted, he said.
While about 97% of Indian businesses say they are investing in AI, only 25-26% are moving from experimentation to scale, according to an IBM study. The top challenge is AI governance.
“That ties back to the lack of trust-can you really trust the data that is being used? Can you trust the models? Can you trust the provenance of models? Can you ensure that there is no bias that has crept into these models?” said Patel.
IBM has been investing in “client engineering” to run proofs of concepts (POCs) to demonstrate solutions rather than simply talking about them, he said.
“Now, banks and public sector units and others that we have been working with, they are moving into getting their data platforms organised so that they can take advantage of AI,” said Patel. “That is another phase of transformation. Digital transformation (in) core banking was done, but now core banking has become stale. What do you do with it to actually get to the next phase?”
