Infosys Replaced 9,000 Employees With Automation, Artificial Intelligence

Elon Musk was right when he said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and automation will eventually take over most human jobs and, in what can be seen as a first case in India where the country's software giant Infosys has "released" 8,000-9,000 employees in the past one year because of automation of lower-end jobs, which is confirmed by the company's human resources head Krishnamurthy Shankar in a statement to ET. Notably, these released employees are now working on more advanced projects, so its not that automation or AI has stole the human jobs but it actually transforming at least in this case of Infosys. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence previously required expensive computing machines, but costs have now come down dramatically. As part of its Automation, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning adaptation drive, the company has been releasing about 2,000 people every quarter and also training them in special courses that will help them in their new assignments. In a research report, released by Infosys itself said that the majority -- 85 percent -- plan to train employees about the benefits and use of AI, and 80 percent of companies replacing roles with AI technologies will retrain or redeploy displaced employees. The report also predicts that organizations that have already deployed or have plans to deploy AI technologies expect to see a 39 percent average increase in revenue by 2020, alongside a 37 percent reduction in costs.