As concerns grow that artificial intelligence (AI) could disrupt white-collar employment worldwide, Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy has urged young people not to panic but to prepare.
Speaking at IIM Bengaluru alongside former HDFC Bank CEO Aditya Puri, Murthy addressed mounting anxiety in global and Indian markets over how quickly AI tools are advancing and whether machines could replace human jobs.
He acknowledged the fears but firmly stated that there is no need for youngsters to get worried, provided they are willing to learn and adapt.
Murthy emphasised that technology does not automatically create equality.
Instead, it rewards those who think better, learn faster, and apply tools more intelligently. Drawing on his own experience with generative AI, he said his experiments have shown that smarter minds produce higher-quality output and achieve greater productivity with assistive technologies.
According to him, young professionals should not see AI as a threat but as a tool that must be understood and used wisely. The responsibility lies with individuals to master emerging technologies, use them in an assistive manner, and combine them with discipline, hard work, and continuous learning.
The debate around AI-led job losses has intensified in recent days following a series of high-profile launches by US-based AI firm Anthropic. The company has been rolling out workplace-focused tools under its Claude platform that allow organisations to automate tasks across legal services, finance, human resources, engineering, and operations.
These AI tools can integrate with widely used enterprise software, carry context across multiple documents, and assist in complex workflows that traditionally required large teams of consultants and specialists.
These developments have unsettled investors. Software and IT services stocks have come under pressure amid concerns that AI could significantly reduce the demand for long-running consulting and modernisation projects.
The anxiety sharpened earlier this week when IBM shares recorded their steepest one-day decline in over two decades. The sell-off followed claims that Anthropic's AI tools can now understand and modernise COBOL, a programming language created in the late 1950s that continues to underpin critical systems in banking, airlines, and government sectors.
For companies like IBM, legacy modernisation projects have historically been time-consuming, consultant-heavy, and financially significant. The suggestion that AI could compress years of such work into much shorter timelines has forced investors to reassess the future economics of enterprise IT services.
However, Murthy and Puri pushed back against the narrative of widespread job destruction. Murthy reiterated that generative AI primarily enhances productivity for those who learn to use it effectively. Puri added that expectations about the speed and scale of AI's impact may be exaggerated.
Beyond discussing artificial intelligence, both leaders also spoke about the qualities required to build lasting enterprises, emphasising discipline, adaptability, strong fundamentals, and continuous learning.
In Murthy's view, the future of work will not be determined by machines replacing humans, but by how well individuals learn to work alongside technology. AI, he suggested, is a powerful assistant, but human intelligence, effort, and integrity will continue to define long-term success.
