New Delhi [India], January 31 : India's demographic advantage and diverse economic landscape position it uniquely to benefit from AI, the Economic Survey for 2024-25 tabled in the Parliament on Friday afternoon asserted.
However, achieving these benefits requires significant investments in education and workforce skilling, supported by enabling, insuring, and stewarding institutions, the state of the economy report tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
"These mechanisms can help workers adapt to changing demands while providing essential safety nets," the Economic Survey report read.
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges for labor markets worldwide. While impressive in its own right, AI still remains in its developmental stage and has a long way to go before it achieves the scope of adoption that have made technologies such as the personal computer and the internet ubiquitous.
In this context, as policymakers, it is important to pay attention to the evolving technological landscape and the potential impact it can have on the labour market, the Economic Survey prepared under the leadership of Chief Economic Adviser Anantha Nageswaran said.
"Historical parallels with earlier technological revolutions reveal the critical role of inclusive institutions in managing disruption and ensuring equitable outcomes."
Barriers to large-scale AI adoption persist in the present, which include concerns over reliability, resource inefficiencies, and infrastructure deficits. Against that backdrop, the Economic Survey called policymakers to create a window for policymakers to act.
Concerns and fears about Artificial Intelligence (AI) disrupting labour markets have intensified as developments in the field have continually demonstrated rapid progress over the last four years.
The increasing complexity of the models being developed today represent a paradigm shift in the field of AI, showing the world that in a few years, 'intelligent machines' will be capable of performing tasks that are predominantly handled by humans today.
The Economic Survey, quoting founder of the AI research and deployment company OpenAI, said how it had recently indicated they were expecting to have office ready 'AI workers' by the end of 2025.
Expectations point toward a trend where AI begins outperforming humans in critical decision-making processes in areas like healthcare, criminal justice, education, business and financial services among others. Adding to the uncertainties of tomorrow is the fact that the speed of research and development is outpacing the regulatory and ethical frameworks needed to manage its risks.
Further, the state of the economy report called for a more responsible approach to AI adoption, especially in a country like India where employment numbers make the magnitude of impact something worth paying attention to.
The chapter on AI also delved into how the perceptions about the emerging technology has changed.
The perceptions about AI has now drastically shifted, spurring debates about the need to align AI developments with broader societal goals, the Economic Survey said.
Google (Gemini), Microsoft (Co-Pilot), Meta (MetaAI with Llama), X/Twitter (Grok), Anthropic (Claude AI), Midjourney, Perplexity AI (Perplexity) and Stability AI (Stable Diffusion), among others, are some of AI majors of the world as of now.
The number of AI patents granted globally increased 62.7 per cent to just over 62,000 between 2021 and 2022.
Similarly, the annual global private investments in Generative AI surged from approximately USD 3 billion in 2022 to USD 25.2 billion by the end of 2023.
"Between 2021 and 2023, global corporate investments in all types of AI totalled USD 761 billion. Additionally, an increasing share of companies have been referencing AI in their earning calls lately8, with CEOs expecting AI adoption to lower labour requirements," the report read.
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