Technology disruptions – social backlash can disrupt the “disruptions”?

Summary

Technology Disruptions like block chain, 3D printing, VR etc will change business models but will also have a social impact. This blog looks at the changes in traditional business models by these “DISRUPTORS”.

The entire global business eco system is bracing up for the “Technology Disruptions” like 3D printing, block chain, virtual and augmented reality. These changes will be earth-shattering, like the impact of shale oil to the OPEC oil, and also completely change the business models globally. Products will be conceptualized, manufactured and delivered in a very different way as compared to in the traditional business models. Automation has already entrenched itself deeply with many human jobs being taken over by machines like in the banks. These disruptions will have major advantages in productivity but also probably have an adverse impact on the human social capital if not addressed to properly.

Technology disruptions has led to human and location agnostic manufacturing models...

Let’s take a firm say ABC Inc. which is in the business of manufacturing consumer goods. At present the operations are done by humans manning the machinery. In the future, artificial intelligence, robotics and automation will ensure a very minimal human intervention not only in the production space but also in allied activities like planning, procurement and supply chain processes. Advanced algorithms will ensure that nuances and changes as per market needs are captured without human filters.

The core activity of ABC Inc. – production operations – will be massively affected by advanced automation, robotics and 3D printing. Industrial robots are expected to take over from humans especially in extreme conditions like in nuclear plants, etc. Robots are like high efficiency and high productivity employees with no emotions – something which every boss would like to have. Imagine having an employee who doesn`t get fatigued out, doesn’t take leaves and works at same productivity all through the day and night!

3D printing is a major disruptor in the manufacturing process which has made the manufacturing place location agnostic. The 3D printing machines can print all types of intricate parts with high productivity and can use all types of material like metals, plastics, etc. due to which labour cost arbitrage across countries is wiped out. Thus, the manufacturing process can move anywhere and when combined with automation and robotics will change the complexion of manufacturing processes across industries.

Blockchain, big data and social media add to the disruptive forces …

Blockchain will massively change and disrupt the financial transactions. This disruption is so massive that traditional financial institutions and intermediaries like banks, credit card firms and payment channels, etc. will become redundant and will be forced to change its business models to survive. A block chain of a process created is so secure that the traditional security of financial institutions will not be required!

Marketing has been disrupted in a significant way by the social media which has ensured that firms can reach consumer directly. Online data analytics which collects and analyses consumer behavior has altered market research functions. Customer support too has been automated with repetitive functions like customer calls being taken over by automation.

HR function will have more interactions with machines rather than humans...

All human interactions are going to decrease with all the disruptions but what will the HR functions do when human count itself will be reduced? The HR department will have to deal with a different workplace which has both humans and machines and faced with not only human-human interactions but also human-machine interactions!

The major impact will be lesser number of workers….. Jobs!

Very soon, ABC Inc. will mostly have robots running their manufacturing operations using 3D printers and automated lines, machines taking care of procurement and supply chain and all systems manned by a central control room with very few humans! Sounds strange but it’s going to be true!

A World Bank report estimates that 62% of the jobs globally are under threat due to automation and disruptive technologies with the developing nations being affected the most. A situation, where a significant portion of the workforce will be without jobs and in many cases unemployable, will stare at many countries leading to profound implications on the social fabric of the society.

Countries like Switzerland are experimenting with concepts like “Universal Basic Income” for a basic minimum social security income for its citizens which is based on the presumption that the advanced level of revenues generated for the countries, due to these technology disruptions, will take care of the social costs as well. This may work in highly developed nations with aged populations but developing nations and countries with high population like India will find the going difficult.

A social backlash can derail implementation of the disruptive technologies 

The technological changes sweeping the global businesses will no doubt change the way business is done in a very positive manner but the social impact will have to be managed else it will prove to be a disruption to the technology disruptions!

Public backlash against globalization brought a wave of nationalistic forces like Donald Trump`s election victory in USA, Brexit, etc. which are threatening to disrupt the global integration. The US government`s actions in pulling out of TPP, Paris Accord, etc. have created a havoc in the global arena but have struck a chord with the local people. Similarly, leaders like Marie Le Pen and Boris Johnson, despite being loathed by many people globally, have a popular base by playing on the people`s fear of being affected adversely by globalization and hence are popular. A similar backlash against technological changes can disrupt the technological changes.

Is there a way out ??

Gary Kasparov, the former world chess champion, has said that humans should not fear automation but rather work with the machines for higher productivity and output citing a personal example of playing chess with the IBM Deep Blue computer.

To do this, it would require a huge amount of skill set training and mindset change so that the new wave of working population can be deployed in other value-added and skilled jobs. Education systems will have to be aligned to build up workforces with skill sets to handle these changes. Firms will need to train people to handle the new workplaces.

Thus, disruptive technological changes will need to affect people positively else the social backlash can be disastrous and prove to be the “DISRUPTOR” to these “DISRUPTIONS”.

Trends from the Gujarat Elections – Development is still core issue

The recent Gujarat elections results have been interpreted in different ways. The BJP has claimed a victory, saying that it has won Gujarat for the sixth time in a row beating anti-incumbency trends and it’s a vote for the development politics that has been ushered in by the Modi government. The Congress claims a victory indicating that the margin of victory is only 19 seats and the BJP has got its lowest tally in Gujarat at 99 seats. The Congress has also been claiming that it the party has been revitalized by the energetic campaign by Rahul Gandhi and reflected in the election results. Whatever the analysis and trumpets blown by the parties, the Gujarat elections has thrown some interesting trends which have far reaching implications on the national politics.

The first major trend is the shift towards Hindutva politics and not playing the minority card. The BJP`s stronghold has been the Hindu vote which was latched onto by the Congress this time. Rahul Gandhi`s temple visits and playing to the Hindu vote base was a clear-cut realization that the days of the KHAM vote base are past and banking on the minority vote is not smart politics anymore. The root to the issue lies in the UP elections wherein the BJP, without any Muslim candidates, won even in the Muslim dominated seats by the inducing the Muslim women to vote for them with their policies for the upliftment for the Muslim women. Hence the days of parties playing the minority card, without any concerns for their development, are probably numbered. It might also lead to a realignment of community based politics where parties will need to have a developmental agenda to win this vote base.

The BJP was supposed to lose the trader dominated seats like Surat because of the angst due to demonetization and GST. Alas, the BJP managed to win all the seats even in Surat probably due to the timely action on the GST relief in the run-up to the elections. Even all the anti GST campaigning by the opposition parties proved to be of little effect in shaking up the strong trader vote base of the BJP. Even though demonetization and GST implementation would have led to short-term pain to the trading community, this vote base is almost still intact with the BJP and alludes to the point that the business community still reposes faith in the developmental agenda of BJP. If the business community is still voting for the BJP it indicates the faith in BJP`s vision, to take Indian business and trade forward, in the global arena.

The critical area where the BJP lost vote was in the Saurashtra area, especially with the farmers. The ostensible reason was that the government didn’t respond to the farmer demands for loan waivers, etc. similar to the waivers in UP and Maharashtra. Probably true! Even in Maharashtra, the loan waiver came with reluctance with the government insisting on farmers raising their productivity levels so as not to fall into the debt trap again. In the past, governments have splurged money on the loan waivers stressing their finances as well as make the PSU banks having to waive off huge amount of loans at taxpayers expense. Even though the BJP will prefer to address this issue of farmers, hopefully without much populism, the trend shows that elections can still be won without buckling under populist pressure.

Despite sloganeering by the opposition parties, the Gujarat elections reflects the shift in the Indian politics of development agenda moving to be the core issue of Indian politics and elections. We will certainly see quite a bit of populist politics thanks to the challenges of a democracy and we might and certainly see the BJP making some populist moves in 2018 before the next general elections. However, the core issue still remains “Development” which if taken as the criteria makes BJP the clear victor from the Gujarat elections. Next – Karnataka elections!

Lessons from Gopi `s success story

Pullela Gopichand (Gopi), the famed badminton coach, has established India`s credentials as a major world badminton power-house. His stable has produced world beaters who have taken the game by storm- P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Cidambi- to name a few. Thanks to the accomplishments attained by these players, the popularity of badminton has risen so fast in India, that in the days to come it can give a good fight to cricket as well.

Gopi `s successful venture is nothing short of a successful start-up like an Uber, Snap chat or a Tencent. His academy`s achievements in building up so many champion players in the past few years proves that his model is not a flash in the pan but has been scaled up to a successful business model – something which every firm looks for in all new avenues of investment. 

What are the lessons that can be learnt from Gopi`s triumphs? There will be a number of lessons but a few can be seen clearly, as below, by many sports loving- management professionals:

A successful anchor helps increase the probability of success

Gopi was a star player having won the All England championship during his playing days and hence had the star power to attract and convince people about his ideas. Successful people, apart from the experience also know how to man oeuvre the maze at a higher level, to achieve the desired results.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers” says that success comes not only by sheer work and effort but also by successful associations and influences. A good example is that of Mahendra Singh Phogat- father of the famed Phogat wrester sisters- who created a transformation by taking up women`s wrestling in his village in traditional Haryana because he himself was a national level wrestler.

In corporates too, for a complete transformation and change, a proven and accomplished leader increases the chances of success. Nandan Nilekani could successfully build up the Aadhar network in India given his background as one of the founder CEOs of the famous Indian IT firm - Infosys. Lee Iacocca could turn around the car company -Chrysler, as he was a well-known personality from Ford Motors.

Basic ground rules are same for all

Gopi `s academy had a strict rule that all trainees should eat meat to build strength and endurance. No waivers for anybody! Similarly, Mahendra Phogat had the same rules of training for his daughters as well as for other trainees. No emotions and no special favors!

Create your own path 

Gopi tried for government aid to launch his academy but didn’t get much support. He thus decided to start off with his own funding and in fact mortgaged his own house to fund his project. To create a transformation, you have to create your own path as well-trodden paths cannot necessarily lead you to a victory in a totally new venture. 

Don’t count on one blockbuster product

Saina Nehwal needed special attention and decided to move to train with another coach. Rather than regret, Gopi stuck to his vision of expanding his academy and created other stars such as Sindhu and Srikanth to name a few. He ensured that his academy moved on and not rue the loss of a star product. Successful firms hence need to have strong plan B and Plan C`s, in case plan A fails.

World is flat, business model matters

Gopi setup his academy in Hyderabad - a Tier-2 Indian city- and not in any of the metro cities. He however could sell his value proposition to his trainees and succeeded in attracting players to Hyderabad where he could build up his academy at probably at a lower cost.  Secondly, Hyderabad has most of the facilities of a metro city and hence the players could concentrate on their training without any distractions of a metro city like high commuting time and higher living expenses.

In any corporate firm, location is always taken as one of the major factors in setting up a new business. The success of Gopi`s venture proves that as long as the business model and ecosystem is good enough and companies have free access to their markets and suppliers, the business model should work and be free from location constraints.

Pullela Gopichand`s success should be an encouraging sight for many successful sportspersons to take up coaching across the country and create a successful pool of world beaters. India needs an effective ecosystem to create numerous global sports players and Gopi has shown the way with his vision and dedication. It’s time for others – corporates, players, people - to learn and move ahead to make India a global sports force to reckon with. 

The Infy saga – Issues with “Active Promoter Management in Indian firms”

The recent saga that unfolded at Infosys saw something which was unprecedented in Indian corporate history. A professional CEO, the first non –promoter CEO with an unblemished track history was forced to resign, not by the Board which reposed full faith in him, but due to pressure and attacks by a promoter who was not even on the board. The buck didn’t stop there!! Within a few days, the board consisting of some distinguished persons from the corporate world were forced out! In short external powerful forces overruled the board and the executive management.

Similarly, at Tatas a year back, the CEO, who was a family confidante with a great track record was booted out due to pressure again by the promoters. In this case, strangely, the board which took the decision to sack the CEO had never before raised any issues with the CEO before on his performance!

Hail “Active Promoter Management”!

The Indian corporate world is dotted with family owned firms which are growing globally and wants to professionalize its working. However despite the claims of the promoters, especially of listed firms of having a hands off approach, the truth is different. Promoters either through their proxies run the firms or exert influence through other means as seen in Infy. However, research shows that family driven firms globally generate more value on a long term basis as compared to many professionally run firms due to their commitment to the business. Hence on a positive note, it can be argued that the promoters’ involvement is beneficial to the firm to some extent. In many global firms like Ford, Walmart, etc. the promoter families have big stakes but the businesses are left to the professionals and the board. Thus, there is a thin line of difference between active interference and outside support.

In the case of Infy, the leading promoter, who chose the CEO and quit the board on the CEO`s arrival, attacked the board and CEO publicly. Similarly, in Tatas the promoter, started interfering with the CEO`s actions and questioning them.  These activities go against the ethos of professional management and is probably due to the deep emotional attachment of the promoters to the firms. Indians are an emotional lot and just as there are deep family attachments to all actions, the emotional attachment of the promoters to the firms which they have built up is natural. In the famous case of Apple, Steve Jobs who started the company was sacked by the board when they found him interfering too much.

This leads to the question whether Indian corporate world will see a completely professional management in the days to come. If highly respected firms like Tatas and Infy cannot do it, who can? However, equity markets, especially global markets, demand good governance and professional management and hence Indian firms cannot walk away from this fact. Secondly, expanding business demands and an ever changing global business scenario needs different skill sets which can be brought in by good governance and by inducting professionals only.

Hence the incidents at Infy and Tatas have thrown some interesting conclusions. Firstly, corporate governance in Indian firms will be largely dictated by the promoters who hold significant stakes in the company. This might change with more global participation and diversification by Indian corporates.  

Secondly, expat global professional CEO`s will be wary of working, on a long term, in Indian firms given the governance scenario. At Tatas, a decision on flat organizational structure taken by the expat CEO was overturned by the corporate management. Hence we can see a number of home grown CEO`s taking the mantle as well as open lots of avenues for global Indian professionals who have wide global exposure. These people will be best suited to handle to Indian business scenarios as well as the promoter expectations.

“Shareholder activism” which is very normal in western markets is still nascent in India. “Active promoter management” cannot be a full substitute to shareholder activism and probably not healthy for Indian businesses in the long run.

To conclude, global investors who are attracted to India due to its growth story will however have to factor in the effects of governance issues, both good and bad, due to “Active Promoter Management” in India.    

Artificial Intelligence challenge – future “SMART “work force

Abstract

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) challenge will change the workforce practices in the future. Humans need to meet the challenges of AI and automation. This post looks into the skill sets challenges that the futuristic human worker will face to work and compete.

Main Body

A World Bank report published in 2015 indicated that a sizeable number of jobs would cease to exist with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Former world chess champion Gary Kasparov, who famously played against the IBM machine Deep Blue in the 90`s, has claimed, in a recent Ted talk event on “Artificial Intelligence’, that human behaviour and work practices need to adapt so that with, machines becoming more and more intelligent, humans and machines can co-exist rather than compete. An October`15 HBR article “How smart and connected products are transforming companies” by Michael Porter and James Heppelmann states, that in the future networked and data-driven world, most of the manufacturing firms will have to change from the traditional organizational structures to a revised structures wherein IT and data would be the fabric. Data flow, supported by IT tools, from both external and internal sources would drive analytics which in turn would give deeper business and customer insights. An another interesting trend that will be seen is “Uberization of workforce” where workers will be chosen from a pool for specific activities matching their skill sets, on a project to project basis, like we take an uber cab ride.

AI presents a huge challenge to the workforce and firms in terms of skill sets, training, and education and importantly a different set of soft skills and work practices. This leads to the important question – what are the skill sets required for both white and blue collared workers in the new age wherein humans will have to co –exist with machines? Workers will need to compete and co-exist not only with their colleagues but also with machines which probably is at a remote location in some other part of the world but also work in different organization structures as pointed out by Porter and Heppelmann.

We will see a workplace where, as a division of work between machines and humans, machines will take away a bulk part of the operational work due to their higher speed and efficiency and hence pressure will be on the human workforce will be add more value through innovation, lateral thinking and adding a more humane touch. The human workforce will also need a different team working skills to co-exist in an ecosystem of machines and humans.

These challenges lead to the regular question – how are the education systems of today preparing the workforce to address the challenges of the workplace of tomorrow especially at the schools level. The Finnish government has redesigned their schooling education system where, rather than studying subjects, the school children work together as a group and discuss relevant topics. This helps not only in understanding the topics but also build team skills, co-learning and sharing activities.

Thus the future workspace will see a combination of humans and machines in which the human workers using their co-machine workers as a platform to innovate and reduce time to produce results with better speed and efficiency. Traditional organizational structures will be broken down and new and flexible structures will be in place. The future workspace is a challenging place where different skill sets will be required and human workers need to be more “SMARTER” than today to face the machines challenge. Interesting world indeed!! 

Criticality of No.2`s in a team

Rahul Dravid, who is presently the coach of the India “A” cricket team (shadow team to the national team) has said that the aim of the ‘A” team is not necessarily to win matches but to ensure a steady supply of players to the Indian national cricket team. In other words, he is focussing on the success of the national team in the larger interests of the Indian cricket and also is more interested in the national glory rather than personal glory. What a noble thought! In his playing days Dravid was an effective vice-captain to Sourav Ganguly when the Indian team started winning matches abroad and in the broader interests of the team kept wickets in one-dayers, opened the innings as and when required and thus was a genuine team man. However, he is remembered as the second best batsman of his era after Tendulkar and second behind Sourav Ganguly in the Indian captains ranking lists. He was thus a genuine no.2 who was very critical to the Indian cricket team.

As it is said “Behind every successful man there is a woman (the No.2)” there are always a silent and hidden no.2`s, behind the scenes personnel, behind every leader`s success whether be it the corporate world, politics, sports, etc. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an able No.2 in his party chief Amit Shah who has been the architect of many of his electoral successes. While Modi focuses on reaching out to the world and people, Shah focusses on the nuances of the organization to ensure full organizational support to Modi`s vision. In the Indian corporate world JRD Tata, who was one of the main architects of expanding the horizons of the Tata group, had able and strong leaders like Russi Mody and Ajit Kerkar to take forward the Tata group`s business interests.

Successful teams need to have different personalities and skill sets which need to be aligned. A team normally has six different types of personalities, as stated by Kate McFarlin viz. driver, adventurer, energizer, cheerleader, stabilizer and perfectionist. Successful leaders normally play some of the first 4 roles. A good no.2 normally plays the role of a stabilizer who tries to sew together all the different personalities in a team and is able to handle the different interests and egos in a team.

Thus can a good No.2 be called a “silent follower” who sacrifices his or her own interests in the larger interests of the team? Certainly not. Good no.2 in today`s context is a “Team Player” according to Mitch Simon, who feels that “followers” are outdated and hence leaders should empower their No.2 to play the role of effectively showing a mirror to them and have the courage to question the leader`s thoughts and take decisions. A good leader also needs to empower and encourage their sub ordinates to express their views freely and also play the leader`s role in their absence. Mahatma Gandhi built an able set of leaders for the Indian freedom struggle like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, etc. who could implement his thoughts and take it to the people.

The typical traits of a good No.2 would be thorough, meticulous, hardworking, ability to connect with people, non –egoistic and generally conformist. One of the questions that can be asked is whether, good no.2`s, leaders or managers? I would say, good leaders but excellent managers.

What would be psychological built of a good No.2? Maslow`s famous “5 stage hierarchy of needs” defines the different needs of a person as physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem and self-actualization as the different needs of a person. The difference between great leaders and good no.2 is in the domain of “esteem” as per Maslow`s hierarchy. While great leaders tend to become larger than life images, the No.2`s remain content with the respect and sense of achievement that they have. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman remained content as technically sound batsmen in the Indian team but didn’t have a cult status like Tendulkar and Ganguly.

In the corporate world too, we see lots of great leaders but their able deputies are rarely in limelight. Thus good companies focus on building and nurturing good teams rather than leaving to the whims and fancies of a superstar. Steve Jobs was a visionary who changed the consumer electronics products industry with Apple. However, Jobs needed the support of an able manager like Tim Cook and a bevy of engineers who could build products in accordance with his ideas. Thus management of companies needs to have effective processes to identify, nurture and recognize the efforts of the good no.2`s. A team cannot be full of leaders but needs team players playing various roles.

It is said,” It doesn`t matter who gets the credit as long as the team succeeds”. Well, good no.2 certainly fit into this saying. We need great leaders around globally but very importantly we need great No.2 `s too to implement and play effective roles in societies, teams, etc. 

Implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for a developing country - India

A recent World Bank (WB) report says that automation and digitization across the world will lead to significant loss of jobs with the bulk of job losses coming in the developing countries in Asia, Central America, East Europe and Africa. The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that developments in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, nanotechnology, etc. will replace the need for human workforce by machines with the effects to be seen as early by 2020.

The development of artificial intelligence has ensured that low end jobs which can be standardization can be replaced by machines and robots. Jobs like bank tellers, clerks, call centre employees, blue collared jobs, etc. have seen humans being replaced by machines. Infact a high end hotel in Japan has got robots to work as ushers and waiters with a good increase in productivity. Developing nations, which are agriculture based and have low end manufacturing, will face the brunt unless corrective steps not taken.

Major countries affected are the developing nations…

Amongst the top 15 countries identified with the biggest threats, China ranks at no. 4 and India at no.11. The country at the top is the poor, famine affected Ethiopia followed by Nepal and Cambodia. Infact even the USA too faces a big threat too with about 62% of the present jobs in USA expected to be affected by 2020. The threat is so big that President Obama had to, in one of his speeches to the US Congress, identifying this loss as one of the biggest threats to the US jobs outlook.

What should nations do?

Does that mean that all technological advancements as stated above is detrimental for human beings? The answer is no! The WEF predicts that this move towards automation will create newer jobs to the extent of about 40-50% of the lost numbers. However the new jobs will require different and specialized skill sets in fields like computing, mathematics, architecture, etc. The key factor is that the new work force will have to re-skilled and re-trained and the new workplace will be distinguished by innovation and high degree of value addition which will require an open and collaborative workforce.

Professor David Deming of Harvard University argues that in the new workplace social skill sets like sharing, negotiation, empathy and co-operation will be highly required. As shown in figure no. 1 Prof. Deming has plotted the shift in the various jobs from the 80`s till early 2010`s which shows that highly skilled jobs like management consultants, financial managers, computer scientists, etc. have gained while low end jobs like mechanics, truck drivers, etc. have lost the most which is an indication for the futuristic work place as well. Google is testing driverless cars and the world has seen how the advent of shale gas has structurally changed the oil markets globally affecting a huge number of jobs in the Middle East.  

Fig no. 1: Jobs change trends

Experiments with Basic Income...

Many countries, to protect their unemployable population, are looking at implementing a Basic Income which is a type of social security with no strings attached. However this concept is still at a nascent stage with many pundits questioning it as a return to socialism which destroyed the Soviet bloc economies. Switzerland has had a national referendum on its implementation which was rejected by the people while Finland proposes to start the basic income on an experimental basis.

India and China will be major losers…

Amongst the top 15 nations, only India and China are the major growing economies globally and importantly have a high population, with the other countries in the list not even crossing the 100mn population mark.  The employment ratio in China and India stand at 58.4% and 38.8% respectively as per International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates and a quick calculation shows that about 310mn and 110mn jobs will be lost in China and India if the WB estimates are true. Thus the implications will be high for India and China. Basic income is not a choice for India and China given its huge population which will necessitate huge cash outflows with nil output.

China has built up its economy on export oriented manufacturing while Indian economy is driven by services and hence is exposed lesser to job losses. However Chinese economy and reserves are far more than India`s and hence can withstand the shocks better. Indian demographic profile is more oriented towards the younger side as compared to China and many other top nations in the world which requires more jobs to be created and hence automation job losses is a major threat to India.

Implications for India are high…

The major structural issues for India are:

1) The Indian education system emphasizes on individual brilliance with the secondary and tertiary education system not oriented towards focussing on innovation and creative thinking.

2)  India cannot afford to look at basic income as a social security against unemployment.

3) Mechanization can lead to job losses in the rural areas which depends on agriculture.

4) Job losses in the younger people can also lead to social tensions with one of the threats being the youth taking up nefarious activities.  

India, as one of the fastest growing economies and with aspirations to become a global superpower, cannot afford to be left behind by the wave of automation and digitization. Companies, government organizations, people, etc. need to adopt this wave to compete globally. However at the same time India is faced with the stark reality of a huge, young workforce force for whom jobs need to be ensured. The World Bank report focusses on a wide range of initiatives ranging from re skilling of workforce, child nutrition, etc.

What are the basic to do`s for India?

a) Basic overhaul of the education system - The present education system which is focussed on rote learning and marks based system makes the workforce incapable for productive employment. The present Indian government has given a big thrust to skills development focussing on building employment oriented skill sets amongst the workforce. Vocational education also needs to be given a thrust. Education curriculum has to orient towards application oriented studies with school education giving more thrust to practicals, experiments, etc. rather than theoretical studies. For example, many alternate education systems like Montessori, Krishnamurthy foundation trusts, etc. have defined education patterns with lots of focus on practical and social skills development.

 

b) Human Development - India still ranks very low on most of the Human Development Indices as compared to many of its global peers. As the WB report says, malnourishment amongst children needs to be addressed, as a medically unfit workforce is a big threat to a country.

c) Role of private sector - Private industry too can play its part in training and re skilling the workforce by investing in training and R&D.

India is still a developing country with a huge young workforce unlike its developed peers. India still requires a huge amount of investment in basic infrastructure, healthcare, etc. which theoretically can be done by machines but can be done by humans too. There is a significant social cost attached too due to automation of jobs and hence the key lies in productivity and cost of the labour and hence a well trained and skilled workforce can match upto many jobs which can be mechanized. For example road laying can be theoretically done by robots but a skilled workforce which is available in good numbers can do the trick.

Neuroscientist Simon Harris, in his Ted talk on Artificial Intelligence says that a final question mankind has to answer is how much of artificial intelligence and automation that it needs to promote. He says that with rapid strides in AI, computers and machines will take over more of the tasks and hence the above question to mankind. Do firms and governments understand the social costs of AI and automation?

AI will be a major disruption in the days to come but social aspects need to be addressed too to benefit the mankind!!