AI will create unprecedented job opportunities: Lokesh
IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh speaking at the ‘AI and the future of jobs: turning disruption into opportunity’ session at the CII Summit held in Visakhapatnam on Saturday
Visakhapatnam: Artificial Intelligence is no longer a technology of the future but a ‘reality’ that demands immediate action, IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh said here on Saturday.
Deliberating on ‘Artificial Intelligence - Future of Jobs: Turning Disruption into Opportunity’ on the second day of the CII Partnership Summit-2025’, the Minister allayed widespread fears of job cuts due to AI, saying AI will instead create unprecedented employment opportunities while transforming the nature of the work itself. "AI is expected to generate 9.7 crore new jobs worldwide by 2025," Lokesh underlined.
Positing a comprehensive three-part strategy, ‘reskill, redefine, and reimagine’, Lokesh mentioned that it would prepare AP’s workforce for the AI era.
With a lot of stress on reskill, the state government had launched ‘Naipunyam’, an AI-powered job and skill development portal. The platform offers both online and offline learning options to ensure workers become future-ready, Lokesh highlighted, while underlining the need to adapt and learn continuously. He said skills of the future would revolve around data storytelling, sustainable technology and AI, among others.
Lokesh underlined that, even as platforms such as ChatGPT are convenient to access, AI can never replace outrightly creativity and judgment of people.
Later, Lokesh released a CII report titled 'Is India Ready for Agentic AI'.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between CII and Bharat Biotech International MD and CII Vice-President Suchitra K. Ella for providing job skill training, career counselling, and employment opportunities for 30,000 youth in Vijayawada over the next few years.
