Work of 16.2 million employees ‘automatable’ with advent of AI, says digital workflow study

Chennai: The maturing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation by India Inc will impact almost 16.2 million workers creating a need for them to reskill and upskill, shows a recent global survey. Simultaneously the advent of AI also has the potential to add 4.7 million tech jobs in the country, the study by digital workflows platform ServiceNow along with Pearson shows.The manufacturing sector will see the biggest impact to the workforce due to automation systems with 23% of the workforce- around 3.7 million fewer full-time employees will be required in the sector in the next five years, and thus their skills need to be augmented, the study shows. Agriculture, forestry and fishing (22% of workforce), wholesale and retail trade (11.6%), and transportation and storage (8%), are the other top sectors that need to urgently consider repurposing their employees' skill sets.Interestingly, the world of manufacturing is also one set to host maximum new technology-centric jobs due to AI use. 902,000 additional full-time tech jobs will be needed to support the implementation of AI and automation in the industry, the study shows. Retail (677,000) and education (197,000) follow closely behind with potential for new tech jobs.On a regional basis, Southern India, which is home to the largest pool of STEM talent, will see the roles of around 3.1 million full-time equivalent tech and non-tech workers transformed by automation by 2027. 1.2 million out of these are in Tamil Nadu alone, and close to 0.3 million computer programmers in Tamil Nadu will need to upskill themselves to be relevant by 2027, the study finds.The research also highlights how existing job roles will change in character as AI comes into play. For instance, roughly 39% of the tasks of a system admin can be supported by automation tools in the next five years. “Ideally, system admins should use this opportunity to learn new skills or train for a new role to help move the business forward,” the study notes. “We’re seeing AI adoption expand fast across every industry in the country and we will start to see larger-scale talent shifts too...Several traditional jobs, such as computer programmers, will need to upskill and evolve to meet the needs of newer, high-growth tech jobs such as flow automation engineers, product owners, master architects, implementation engineers and more,” Kamolika Gupta Peres, vice-president and managing director, ServiceNow India, says.ServiceNow and Pearson modelled the impact of 16 technologies on more than 6,000 roles in India and five other markets around the world for the study.