In a recent podcast, Jeff Bezos made a thought-provoking
statement: “While the telescope is a human invention, it’s the
discoveries of the moons of Jupiter through the lens of these
telescopes that excite me.” He shared these lines to highlight
the unfathomable capabilities of AI, how it surpasses its own
capabilities with each passing day, and how it will contribute
to the mutual progression of humankind, rather than harm,
imbalance, or destroy us.
Hasn’t there been a similar scenario throughout history? If we
go back to the medieval age when one of our greatest inventions,
the wheel, became a part and parcel of our lives! Many believe
it’s far-fetched to call it the greatest invention of all time,
but why not? The wheel aided in faster and smoother
transportation, reducing travel time. Apart from these generic
economic benefits, there is a deeply rooted human capital that
got released from the deadlock of doing the same manual labor
day after day, which was inefficient and suppressed human
potential. You see, when humans didn’t have to worry about
non-productive chores, thanks to the wheel, their brains could
focus on achieving more major goals, leading to newer
discoveries through the lens of the wheels. This is a
generalized phenomenon prevalent throughout timelines; a new
invention is a stepping stone for another, and that’s how we’ve
finally landed in this 21st-century world, where we are finally
walking and talking AI.
However, be it Galileo’s imprisonment for heresy for discovering
the obvious— that the Earth revolves around the Sun—or the
invention of calculators, which made some professors believe
that students using calculators early won’t learn math concepts
to the core, there has always been resistance towards any new
discovery. This resistance primarily stems from humans’ natural
tendency to not adapt to any change that changes the safety net
of the particular individual. Galileo questioned some people’s
religious sentiments, while the professors feared for their job
roles. So, instead of fearing the loss of their own jobs, there
should be a change in perception towards the adaptability of AI
into people’s workflow, and we should embrace AI as similar to a
wheel, which ultimately increases our productivity and helps us
do our job role more efficiently.
We can take a deep dive into India, which lacks productive
resources in various sectors, one being the healthcare industry.
The critical challenges of Indian healthcare include a low
doctor-patient ratio, skewed distribution of expertise,
un-affordability, inadequately trained staff, and delayed
detection and diagnostic errors. As a powerful tool, AI can
address many of these challenges. The fact that technology in
healthcare can make execution better and faster is time-tested.
In a developing country like India, the significant issues that
AI and digital technology are trying to solve include
diagnostics, compensating for the lack of skilled resources and
human capital, affordability, and accessibility.
AI can improve administrative and operational workflow in the
healthcare system by automating some of its processes. Recording
notes and reviewing medical records in electronic health records
take up to 35% of the daily time in a doctor’s busy working day,
making it one of the leading causes of lost productivity for
physicians. Clinical documentation tools that use natural
language processing can help reduce the time providers spend on
documentation for clinicians and give them more time to focus on
delivering top-quality care.
India was primarily an agrarian society before the wave of
service and manufacturing-led growth swept the country. But with
a rising population and income, there is a severe need for
continuous increases in food production. While the country has
been able to achieve this, the problem lies with the per-hectare
yield, which is drastically lower than other major farm
producers like China, who, using tech, have been able to grow
their yield through the finite land available within a country’s
boundary. As yield increases, the profitability of the farm
increases, which has a ripple effect on the whole society and,
most importantly, the farmer himself. AI-powered applications
can analyze vast amounts of data to provide insights into
real-time soil conditions, moisture levels, and crop health.
This will allow farmers to apply fertilizers, pesticides, and
water precisely where and when they are needed, reducing waste
and further minimizing the impact on the environment.
Furthermore, machine learning algorithms can identify disease
outbreaks or pest infestations early, enabling targeted
interventions and preventing potential crop losses in the
future.
AI’s predictive capabilities extend to estimating crop yields
with remarkable accuracy. By assimilating data from various
sources such as satellite imagery, historical yields, and
weather forecasts, AI algorithms can generate reliable
predictions. These forecasts empower farmers to plan their
harvests, manage labor, and negotiate contracts with buyers more
effectively.
But among all these productivity enhancements, there are sectors
and job roles that will become redundant due to their repetitive
nature without any creative bend to make those job roles
untouchable by AI. Goldman Sachs, in its report, has predicted
300 million job losses due to AI. One of the key employers in
India, the IT services, might see some of its repetitive job
roles like coders, testers, troubleshooting ticket solvers, and
tech maintenance staff go away in the medium term. There will
always be this capitalistic urge among the IT giants to cut
costs, so they might start downsizing or replacing their senior
employees with more AI-skilled freshers who would cost less to
the company, with 32,000 layoffs already in the first quarter of
2024. While Infosys executive Satish HC has mentioned they might
cut down on their hiring process in the 3-5 years to come.
So, picking out any industry, workers need to reskill and
upskill themselves irrespective of the industries they cater to,
to survive this AI wave with predictions of 16.2 million workers
needing to get upskilled. In one study, ServiceNow’s study
predicted that manufacturing will witness the biggest
disruption, with 23% of the workforce primed for automation and
skill augmentation, followed by agriculture, forestry, and
fishing (22%), wholesale and retail trade (11.6%),
transportation and storage (8%), and construction (7.8%). “The
pace of progress has never been swifter, with businesses driving
large-scale transformation across diverse industry sectors that
will play a decisive role in India’s rise towards a $1-trillion
digital economy,” said Kamolika Gupta Peres, vice president and
managing director, of ServiceNow Indian Sub-Continent.
