Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India and South Asia, said that Artificial intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change the nature of jobs, rather than eliminating them. During his remarks at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Democratizing Al Resources for Economic Growth and Social Good event, the inaugural session of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, he emphasised that AI will “unbundle” jobs into smaller, task-based components, allowing humans to focus on higher-value tasks.
“AI will not kill jobs. AI will unbundle jobs… Your job is a bundle of tasks. What AI will do is it will unbundle it,” he said. The comments address the fears around the rapid growth of AI and its impact on jobs, which will also be discussed at the NDTV Ind.AI Summit, hosted by NDTV on February 18.
He suggested that professionals must continuously learn and adapt to AI tools to remain relevant in the job market.
Weighing in on the AI agents, he said that they will become “digital colleagues,” functioning as teammates rather than just tools. “The real unlock will happen when Al moves from a tool on your phone or laptop to a true teammate,” he said, further adding that they will act “with your permission, but not your involvement.”
According to Chandok, AI has the ability to “manufacture intelligence” at scale, and it is far different from previous waves, such as the internet, mobile or cloud computing.
“We have potentially, for the first time in humankind, the ability to manufacture intelligence,” he said. “Intelligence is the most valuable commodity on the planet.”
In the context of India, he said the nation is poised to lead the AI century, with 92% of knowledge workers using AI and 59% of businesses adopting AI agents. Microsoft plans to invest $17.5 billion in India’s data centre capacity over the next few years, supporting the country’s AI growth.
Chandok’s words on democratising AI
He also shared his thoughts on LinkedIn, saying, “To democratise AI, we must move beyond simple access and focus on diffusion through skilling.”
“We are committed to ensuring that AI-driven opportunities reach every layer of society, driving both economic growth and social good – from training teachers in classrooms to building AI employee training pathways for enterprises,” he added.