JULY 19, 2023
There’s a looming fear about potential job losses as AI tech, especially generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, continue to grow and become more popular. Recently, Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque stated that coders, especially Indian coders, are at risk of losing jobs in the next two years.
Stability AI is one of the leading companies in the space for its text-to-image generator tool Stable Diffusion. During an interview, Mostaque suggested that countries like India, where many IT jobs get outsourced, might be in trouble in the next few years as MNCs are adopting AI tools to write, read, and review codes. His concerns also stem from the labour laws that remain India’s weak point.
Mostaque’s recent remarks come days after he said in another podcast that AI tools, like ChatGPT, will become offline on mobile phones by next year. It means many users will use and generate text or even images in seconds without the internet. In other words, they will access information on their palms like never before. Other CEOs like Sam Altman of OpenAI have repeatedly asked for regulations to safeguard users’ privacy and jobs. Tech giants like Google and Microsoft have shared similar concerns, though they argue that AI will create new jobs and humans need to co-exist with the technology.
Here are five takeaways from Mostaque’s latest remarks regarding India’s IT market and what others have said so far.
— As reported by CNBC, Mostaque, during a call with a UBS analyst, stated, “Outsourced coders up to level three programmers will be gone in the next year or two.” In regards to India, he suggested that engineers working in the Indian IT sector are at risk. That’s because new generative AI models “are like really talented grads” and will replace those who sit “in front of a computer” and never get noticed, he said.
— Mostaque also spoke about regulations around the world. Citing the Stable AI CEO, CNBC reports, “So it affects different models in different countries in different ways in different sectors.” Mostaque said that countries with stronger labour laws, such as France, will find it difficult to fire workers. In India, due to weak labour laws, coders and engineers at international IT firms are at risk.
— Notably, India adds a sizeable chunk of engineers each year. Earlier this year, a Bloomberg newsletter noted that five million engineers face a “Jobpocalypse.” Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India’s largest outsourcer. Other major IT firms in India, like Wipro and Infosys, have a huge workforce in India. TCS recently announced plans to train 25,000 engineers to get them certified on Microsoft’s Azure Open AI. Wipro’s also planning to invest $1 billion into AI research over the next three years.
— Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella have also previously shared concerns about potential job loss due to AI (vaguely), though the duo urges users to start adopting the technology to stay ahead of the curve. Pichai and Nadella have repeatedly said that AI will eliminate grunt work. In a podcast earlier this week, Mostaque said something similar, “AI is not going to replace humans, humans with AI will replace humans that don’t use AI.”
— In a podcast with Tom Bilyeu, Mostaque added, “With AI, we’re facing potential societal disruptions, but also exploring exciting opportunities in personalised education and healthcare.”
Courtesy/Source: India Today / PTI
