Artificial Intelligence (AI) has slowly and steadily made its way into our lives. But it is now making rapid leaps into our workflows.
A quick reckoner of its impact would be the utter pervasiveness of chatbots in customer service operations. Try and remember the last time you spoke to a customer care executive instead of chatting with a ‘bot’ when, say, raising a dispute with a cab-hailing service, or while initiating an exchange on an e-commerce platform, or even for banking services.
According to an EY report, an AI chatbot developed by a US fintech carried out 2.3 million customer interactions in a month, alone doing the work of nearly 700 agents. Although this remarkable productivity has enticed businesses, human executives are anxiously staring at layoffs lest their job description should become ‘redundant’ (read: automated).
Just last week, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet announced the firm’s pivot towards AI even as its quarterly reports indicated that its global workforce shrunk by 11,000 employees in the last three months. Earlier this month, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff u-turned from his July statement ‘you need the human in the loop’ and let go of over 4,000 customer support jobs because of AI automation.
In July, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced laying off more than 12,000 employees as a result of incorporating AI models at scale.
The question most early and mid-career employees now find themselves grappling with is—Would I be replaced by AI too? To try and find an answer, The Quint spoke to leading recruitment firms Randstad India and TeamLease on:
Which sectors are witnessing rapid transformation because of AI?
What kind of jobs are more likely to get redundant?
What will be the future of jobs in India?
But before that:
AI Is Eating Up Routine Jobs But You Can Save Yours: Here's What Recruiters Say
1. Is Automation of Workflow a Recent Phenomenon?
Automation, which is defined as the use of technology or machines to perform tasks with minimal or no human intervention, can be dated back to Industrial Revolution, when mechanised factories reduced reliance on manual labour. However, it was accompanied by a boom of jobs in manufacturing units for operating and maintaining those machines.
In fact, since then landmark technological disruptors—Electrification of industry in the early 1900s; the advent of computers in the 1970s which ushered in the Information Age; the World Wide Web in the 1990s; and the Internet and smartphones in the 2000s—were all accompanied by disruption of existing jobs whilst spawning new roles and industries.
However, the pace, scope and sophistication with which AI and digital technologies are currently automating workflow has job-seekers worried.
Balasubrmanian A, Vice President at TeamLease told The Quint that it was during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the digitalisation of services picked up pace and businesses started re-thinking people supply chains in a big way.
“During the Covid-19 period, people went back home but work was still happening: products were selling in the market, services were getting delivered. With the ushering in of this digital revolution, companies leaned more towards productivity,” he said.
Expand2. How is AI Reshaping the World of Work?
Balasubramanian added that during the pandemic years many digital offerings, including in the edtech and fintech space, garnered strong demand.
“Tech leaders assumed this uptick to be a permanent shift and hence extended hiring. Meanwhile, the non-tech companies started reassessing their people supply chain by identifying the mission-critical functions and the number of people required for it. But now tech leaders have discovered that they over-hired and so they’ve started ramping down as well,” he explained.
This leaves both tech and non-tech firms essentially in the same boat — chasing productivity and contemplating if they are really getting the returns on investment in terms of human capital. But maximising productivity can be a bit of a slippery slope.
Balasubramanian warned, “If you drive everything through AI, a lot of people are going to be out of jobs, which means people wouldn’t have money to purchase goods.” Reduced consumer spending, in turn, would lead to lower demand, lower production, higher unemployment and slower economic growth. “So, it's a slippery scope and we need to balance this really carefully,” he asserted.
Viswanath PS, MD & CEO of Randstad India, told The Quint, “AI is fundamentally reshaping the world of work. Rather than simply displacing roles, it is transforming them—shifting value from routine execution to the ability to combine human judgment with machine intelligence.”
He, in fact, viewed AI as “a catalyst for job creation and productivity,” particularly in sectors like BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance), manufacturing, retail, and healthcare.
Expand3. What Kind of Jobs are Under Threat?
In the two years following the COVID-19 pandemic, even before Generative AI became mainstream, a lot of routine jobs had begun to get automated because of digitalization. AI simply accelerated it, acting as a catalyst, Balasubramanian contended.
He told The Quint that routine jobs in the back office, especially which are administrative in nature such as customer service queries; or teams which carry out repetitive and predictable tasks have started getting automated.
A March 2025 study conducted by EY revealed that 74 percent of financial firms in India have initiated proof-of-concept projects while 11 percent have moved to production-level deployments. The study indicated that investment in GenAI is also increasing, with 42 percent of organizations actively allocating budgets toward AI initiatives in areas such as voice bots, email automation, business intelligence, and workflow automation.
“In the knowledge economy, we have a mix of people: those who do creative work and a bigger chunk of people who do execution work, i.e. translating the created knowledge into processes. The latter is now under severe threat of becoming redundant,” Balasubramanian posited.
He added that earlier both the sets of jobs were lumped together, but now they are beginning to segregate and become more distinct.
In an AI-driven world, the real skill lies not just in reading and analysing data but in knowing the insights behind it and what it means for real-world businesses.
“Further, being able to use those insights in assimilating creative solutions, coming up with designs, novel concepts, ideas, design thinking — these are the kind of roles that will carry a disproportionate premium in the future,” Balasubramanian argued.
Expand4. Should We Perceive Education and Degrees Differently?
When asked what the AI-led shift means for job seekers, Viswanath told The Quint, “For talent, this means rethinking how they view education. Degrees will remain important, but their relevance now depends on how they are continuously complemented with stackable skills, micro-credentials, and applied experience.”
He added that employers are increasingly prioritising demonstrable capability and adaptability over static qualifications.
As Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) firms, including Knowledge Process Outsourcing or KPOs, are rethinking their approach to business, should students entering colleges re-evaluate their majors and specialisations?
To this, Balasubramanian said, “In the last 20 years, technology, which is the application of science, had become fashionable. But now, core science, which is the foundation of creativity is set to become more fashionable.”
He insisted that students pivot their focus towards core creativity – in law, maths, science, economics – and ideation rather than the execution of routine tasks. Besides, he said that GenZ should work on developing their social interaction and people skills.
Expand5. Silver Lining in the Future of Jobs
Artificial Intelligence is not only going to be more mainstream than Google and Microsoft Office soon, but it is also going to be an essential skill on your resume. Can upskilling in GenAI give you a competitive edge?
Viswanath argued that the future of employability in India will belong to those who embrace lifelong learning—building strong domain expertise while continuously refreshing their AI and digital fluency. “In this AI-driven era, success will be defined less by pedigree and more by the ability to learn, adapt, and create value at speed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Balasubramanian compared AI to previous technological disruptors to underline the importance of adapting as jobs undergo transformation. He said:
“In the 1990s, bank employees used to maintain large physical registers, do manual entries using calculators and had typewriters for reports. But all this got automated with the advent of computers. So, they had to learn computer applications and Microsoft Office.”
With this change, the jobs of typists and data entry operators become redundant but at the same time, the jobs of software developers, IT professionals and website designers became essential. And though the workflow transformed, it couldn’t have been automated beyond a point—which is also the case with AI.
Balasubramanian pointed out that AI adoption at scale is resulting in more demand for jobs such as AI trainers, prompt engineers, AI ethics specialists, human-AI collaboration designers.
“Thanks to AI, even with fewer people, businesses can achieve more productivity. There can be more one-person startups,” he added.
Expand
Is Automation of Workflow a Recent Phenomenon?
Automation, which is defined as the use of technology or machines to perform tasks with minimal or no human intervention, can be dated back to Industrial Revolution, when mechanised factories reduced reliance on manual labour. However, it was accompanied by a boom of jobs in manufacturing units for operating and maintaining those machines.
In fact, since then landmark technological disruptors—Electrification of industry in the early 1900s; the advent of computers in the 1970s which ushered in the Information Age; the World Wide Web in the 1990s; and the Internet and smartphones in the 2000s—were all accompanied by disruption of existing jobs whilst spawning new roles and industries.
However, the pace, scope and sophistication with which AI and digital technologies are currently automating workflow has job-seekers worried.
Balasubrmanian A, Vice President at TeamLease told The Quint that it was during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the digitalisation of services picked up pace and businesses started re-thinking people supply chains in a big way.
“During the Covid-19 period, people went back home but work was still happening: products were selling in the market, services were getting delivered. With the ushering in of this digital revolution, companies leaned more towards productivity,” he said.
How is AI Reshaping the World of Work?
Balasubramanian added that during the pandemic years many digital offerings, including in the edtech and fintech space, garnered strong demand.
“Tech leaders assumed this uptick to be a permanent shift and hence extended hiring. Meanwhile, the non-tech companies started reassessing their people supply chain by identifying the mission-critical functions and the number of people required for it. But now tech leaders have discovered that they over-hired and so they’ve started ramping down as well,” he explained.
This leaves both tech and non-tech firms essentially in the same boat — chasing productivity and contemplating if they are really getting the returns on investment in terms of human capital. But maximising productivity can be a bit of a slippery slope.
Balasubramanian warned, “If you drive everything through AI, a lot of people are going to be out of jobs, which means people wouldn’t have money to purchase goods.” Reduced consumer spending, in turn, would lead to lower demand, lower production, higher unemployment and slower economic growth. “So, it's a slippery scope and we need to balance this really carefully,” he asserted.
Viswanath PS, MD & CEO of Randstad India, told The Quint, “AI is fundamentally reshaping the world of work. Rather than simply displacing roles, it is transforming them—shifting value from routine execution to the ability to combine human judgment with machine intelligence.”
He, in fact, viewed AI as “a catalyst for job creation and productivity,” particularly in sectors like BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance), manufacturing, retail, and healthcare.
What Kind of Jobs are Under Threat?
In the two years following the COVID-19 pandemic, even before Generative AI became mainstream, a lot of routine jobs had begun to get automated because of digitalization. AI simply accelerated it, acting as a catalyst, Balasubramanian contended.
He told The Quint that routine jobs in the back office, especially which are administrative in nature such as customer service queries; or teams which carry out repetitive and predictable tasks have started getting automated.
A March 2025 study conducted by EY revealed that 74 percent of financial firms in India have initiated proof-of-concept projects while 11 percent have moved to production-level deployments. The study indicated that investment in GenAI is also increasing, with 42 percent of organizations actively allocating budgets toward AI initiatives in areas such as voice bots, email automation, business intelligence, and workflow automation.
“In the knowledge economy, we have a mix of people: those who do creative work and a bigger chunk of people who do execution work, i.e. translating the created knowledge into processes. The latter is now under severe threat of becoming redundant,” Balasubramanian posited.
He added that earlier both the sets of jobs were lumped together, but now they are beginning to segregate and become more distinct.
In an AI-driven world, the real skill lies not just in reading and analysing data but in knowing the insights behind it and what it means for real-world businesses.
“Further, being able to use those insights in assimilating creative solutions, coming up with designs, novel concepts, ideas, design thinking — these are the kind of roles that will carry a disproportionate premium in the future,” Balasubramanian argued.
Should We Perceive Education and Degrees Differently?
When asked what the AI-led shift means for job seekers, Viswanath told The Quint, “For talent, this means rethinking how they view education. Degrees will remain important, but their relevance now depends on how they are continuously complemented with stackable skills, micro-credentials, and applied experience.”
He added that employers are increasingly prioritising demonstrable capability and adaptability over static qualifications.
As Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) firms, including Knowledge Process Outsourcing or KPOs, are rethinking their approach to business, should students entering colleges re-evaluate their majors and specialisations?
To this, Balasubramanian said, “In the last 20 years, technology, which is the application of science, had become fashionable. But now, core science, which is the foundation of creativity is set to become more fashionable.”
He insisted that students pivot their focus towards core creativity – in law, maths, science, economics – and ideation rather than the execution of routine tasks. Besides, he said that GenZ should work on developing their social interaction and people skills.
Silver Lining in the Future of Jobs
Artificial Intelligence is not only going to be more mainstream than Google and Microsoft Office soon, but it is also going to be an essential skill on your resume. Can upskilling in GenAI give you a competitive edge?
Viswanath argued that the future of employability in India will belong to those who embrace lifelong learning—building strong domain expertise while continuously refreshing their AI and digital fluency. “In this AI-driven era, success will be defined less by pedigree and more by the ability to learn, adapt, and create value at speed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Balasubramanian compared AI to previous technological disruptors to underline the importance of adapting as jobs undergo transformation. He said:
“In the 1990s, bank employees used to maintain large physical registers, do manual entries using calculators and had typewriters for reports. But all this got automated with the advent of computers. So, they had to learn computer applications and Microsoft Office.”
With this change, the jobs of typists and data entry operators become redundant but at the same time, the jobs of software developers, IT professionals and website designers became essential. And though the workflow transformed, it couldn’t have been automated beyond a point—which is also the case with AI.
Balasubramanian pointed out that AI adoption at scale is resulting in more demand for jobs such as AI trainers, prompt engineers, AI ethics specialists, human-AI collaboration designers.
“Thanks to AI, even with fewer people, businesses can achieve more productivity. There can be more one-person startups,” he added.