Cognizant's AI efforts free up 12k people, 14k rejoin co

Bengaluru: Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar indicated that former employees constitute 5-7% of their lateral hires, signalling a growing trend of returnees. Cognizant saw 14,000 people rejoin the firm and has an additional 20,000 of them in the queue to return to the company. Kumar was speaking at the investor day held in the US recently.

Kumar recently told TOI that with machines writing 20% of the code, teams can accomplish more tasks with fewer personnel. This, Kumar said, creates an interesting economic scenario known as Jevons Paradox, where increased efficiency in resource usage leads to higher overall demand for that resource. He said Cognizant's AI efforts have freed up 12,000 people due to its AI and automation efforts.

"Headcount growth is something that we would probably not hazard because it's a three-year journey. We are talking about 20% of the code coming through AI. This is an evolving world. However, I think one thing is certain: every incremental outcome you generate will require less human effort than what we are traditionally used to. In a high-growth, discretionary-led scenario, it is more onsite-centric growth, whereas more cost-based growth is through offshore," its CFO, Jatin Dalal said. Cognizant also said over 2.3 lakh employees have AI training.


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