IT sector has survived many tech transitions: Kris Gopalakrishnan on AI's impact

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : Senapathy ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of India’s second-largest IT services firm, Infosys, advises Indian companies and employees to learn artificial intelligence (AI) to stay relevant. Gopalakrishnan, who has become a philanthropist with his own family office and its investment arm, Pratithi Investments, told Mint in an interview on the sidelines of Global Fintech Fest 2024 on Wednesday that the IT sector is cash-rich and has capable leaders, but companies have their own growth rates, and “some may not make it." Edited excerpts: AI is the new tool that's available for us, just like it completes our sentence for us. If you want to use AI, start training yourself.

Newer technologies always increase productivity. I believe that if you stay relevant and keep up to date with new technologies, then as an individual, you will have a job, and as a company, you will be in the business. In the short term, the introduction of new technology always creates some challenges because you have to retrain and understand how it impacts, and sometimes there is a pause till you understand how to leverage this technology…but that is really what is happening now.

Over the next ten years, I am very confident in saying that this will have a significant impact, but what that will be, we are trying to figure out. Every time something fundamental, something impactful has been introduced, the economy has grown faster and more jobs have been created. The IT industry has experienced leadership.

It is very profitable. It has a very strong cash position and has a loyal clientele. The (IT) sector has seen multiple technology transitions and survived.