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By Bhavana Akella Bengaluru, July 10 (IANS) With new technologies disrupting businesses and changing the rules of engagement, India faces a daunting task to reskill its huge workforce for

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan says. "India has a major challenge of transitioning its young workforce to the fourth industrial revolution called

AI after the eras of agriculture, manufacturing and services," Gopalakrishnan told IANS in an interview here. Gopalakrishnan, 63, well-known as 'Kris', is one of the seven

co-founders of the iconic IT firm, who became its chief executive after fellow co-founder Nandan Nilekani quit in mid-2009 to set up the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for

issuing Aadhaar cards to over a billion citizens. "As the large workforce is engaged in diverse occupations such as agriculture, manufacturing and white-collar jobs in the services

sector, it needs to be re-skilled to sustain the jobs, as AI will replace traditional jobs," said Gopalakrishnan. Originating in the mid-1950s as an academic discipline, AI involves

machines emulating human intelligence. Many experts like American aerospace firm SpaceX founder Elon Musk and renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, however, feared that AI would spell

doom by replacing humans as thinking machines. As a geek, Gopalakrishnan allayed unknown fears of AI, terming it as a transition none can avoid but adopt in due course. "AI is a

transition that is bound to happen, whether we like it or not. We should rather think of preparing the workforce for it by reskilling it. We have to brace for skilled jobs, as many

conventional jobs will be lost though many more will be created in allied areas," he pointed out. Golalakrishnan, however, refused to answer any questions on Infosys' developments

in the field of AI, even as the software giant has been working on the technology through its platforms like Nia over the past few years. Though use of robots in the automobile industry led

to the loss of painting jobs in assembly lines of car plants, Gopalakrishnan said on the flip side, they saved the blue-collar workforce from the harmful exposure to chemical paints. Hawking

(1942-2018), had termed the emergence of AI as the worst event in the history of civilisation and urged its propounders to find ways to control its development. Participating in a web

summit technology conference at Lisbon in Portugal on November 6, 2017, Hawking said computers could, in theory, exceed human intelligence (HI). "Unless we learn how to prepare for, and

avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilisation. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many.

It could bring great disruption to our economy," Hawking asserted. Echoing Hawking, Telsa co-founder Musk charged that AI was more dangerous than nuclear warheads and called for a

regulatory authority to oversee its development as super intelligence. "The biggest issue I see with so-called AI experts is they think they know more than they do, and they think they

are smarter than they actually are," said Musk at a tech conference at Austin in Texas on March 12, as reported in the US media. Countering the likes of Hawking and Musk, Gopalakrishnan

said there was no simple solution with disruptive technologies but to adopt them to sustain and thrive. "If we don't prepare as a country to re-skill our people for an AI-led

future, there will be social unrest because their jobs will become redundant," he reiterated. Unfazed by partial opposition to AI, Gopalakrishnan was passionate about AI for the immense

benefits he saw in it. "As in every technology, risks are inherent even in AI, though I see a bright future in its adoption. Through AI in key areas like healthcare, we can reduce the

cost of technology to improve the quality of life," he affirmed. Key sectors such as health, education and transportation will be impacted by AI, with machine intelligence reducing

labour and redundant activities. "AI is reaching the critical stage of consumerisation, becoming a technology for our daily use. It can create opportunities to spur growth,"

Gopalakrishnan claimed. In this context, Gopalakrishnan, chairman of India Inc apex body CII's innovation cell, clarified that the industry, academia and the government have to share

the responsibility of getting the workforce prepared for AI-led jobs. "The preparedness should begin with training undergraduate students on AI by including it in their courses,"

he added. In a technology-driven world, Gopalakrishnan said India's policies have to strike a balance between protecting an individual's privacy and promoting the tech medium.

(Bhavana Akella can be contacted at [email protected]) (This story was auto-published from a syndicated feed. No part of the story has been edited by THE QUINT.)