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Vijay Shekhar Sharma talked about how AI will change jobs.
Addressing the 9th edition of the ET NOW Global Business Summit at Taj Palace in New Delhi, Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma spoke about both short-term and long-term impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs, especially in India. He explained that while AI may replace some roles, it will also create new opportunities and enhance productivity.
“Being a technology person, it is very important for me that India uses AI on a mass scale. I would like to give a statement on AI. Right now, we interact with AI by typing in a chat box and getting text-based responses. This is similar to how the internet was in 1994-95. The real internet revolution came 10-20 years later around 2005-2015. AI today is at a promising stage,” Paytm Founder said at the GBS 2025.
Will AI Kill Jobs?
According to Sharma, the first major impact of AI will be on jobs that rely on text-based outputs. Their job growth will stop. These roles may decline or become limited and their growth could slow down.
“There will be more efficacy and efficiency for the agent who will be handling the text. Now, this could be the job profile or skill from any kind of job that involves text output. But the big thing that will happen is that AI will become the power and tool to give you more power and tools to grow. So, people’s skills will be enhanced, efficacy will be enhanced and productivity will increase,” he added.
“If you remember, when ATM came people feared bank branches would shut down. Do you think that the number of branches of the bank has reduced or increased? It has increased. “In the same way, when the internet came, people thought that the number of offices would reduce. Has it reduced or increased? So, productivity enhancement enhances the job prospects of the economy. And this is an incredible productivity enhancement tool. People will move from a smaller skill to a larger skill,” Paytm founder explained.
“In the short term, it may seem like AI will take away jobs but in the long term, it will be like, wow, how will we live without this,” he noted.
About Global Business Summit
The ET NOW Global Business Summit 2025, themed ‘Evolve, Emerge, Expand,’ is taking place at Taj Palace, New Delhi, bringing together leading innovators and industry experts. This two-day event, which began today, explores key transformations in education, energy, AI, climate policy, and logistics, highlighting the strategies that nations and businesses can adopt to navigate the evolving global economy. With a focus on adaptation, growth, and expansion, the summit aims to shape the future of industries in an increasingly interconnected world.