NEW DELHI: The introduction of generative artificial intelligence has led to a slowdown in entry-level hiring, increased demand for skilled mid-level workers and provided “considerable stability” to senior personnel, an ICRIER study said.“The researchers note that this slowdown is consistent with broader post-pandemic trends in the IT industry and cannot be attributed solely to AI adoption. Roles typically considered most exposed to AI, such as software developers and database administrators, are also among the strongest in demand growth, suggesting that generative AI serves primarily as a productivity-enhancing complement to technical and analytical jobs rather than a replacement,” said the report, which was supported by OpenAI and is based on a survey of more than 650 companies.
Positions such as statisticians and mathematicians, application developers, and database designers and administrators are the most talked about and in highest demand, while human resources, legal, and finance professionals are the least popular. The roles and skills most affected include data entry and clerical work, followed by manual testing, manual quality assurance and entry-level programming.The survey shows that among the business functions of IT companies, software development and engineering are the most affected, followed by IT infrastructure and cloud services and project management. The report says the adoption of AI is reshaping hiring priorities, combining domain expertise with technical skills related to AI and data, rather than narrow specialization.While half of the companies surveyed said they were investing in internal awareness and workforce reskilling, the report said: “However, there is concern that IT companies are not hiring enough employees with skills to operate large language models or expanding their R&D departments, and most importantly, are not investing sufficiently in training and upskilling. The shortage of qualified AI trainers, the limited AI skills of new labor market entrants, and the policy and regulatory uncertainty surrounding AI are all challenges that must be addressed immediately.”“
