Among the many controversies brewing at the AI Impact Summit, one of them involved venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and his remarks on Cisco’s senior employees. In one of the discussions held at the summit, Khosla, who founded Khosla Ventures, stated that Cisco employees with 15-20 years of work experience will be unemployable in today’s AI economy. Now, Cisco President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel has pushed back against these comments, calling them ‘provocative’ and ‘not completely accurate’.
The exchange comes from Khosla’s statements at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, where he critiqued large legacy tech firms for causing employee stagnation, and called for the need to rekill experienced employees for today’s AI-bred world.
Khosla’s critique of legacy tech firms at AI Impact Summit
Vinod Khosla argued during the summit that prolonged tenures at companies like Cisco lead to professionals becoming “ossified” and out of touch with rapid technological change. He specifically stated, “If somebody has worked at Cisco for 15 to 20 years, I consider them unemployable in the real economy,” highlighting the need for constant reskilling in emerging fields like artificial intelligence.
Khosla contrasted this with the growing credibility of startups, “(Earlier) they always trusted an IBM over a startup… Now, you always trust a startup over an IBM.”
His comments, which were made in a fireside chat moderated by Mohit Bhatnagar of Peak XV Partners, sparked debate about adaptability in large organisations and how they fare against the agility of startups in the AI landscape.
Cisco President’s strong response to the comment
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Jeetu Patel countered by acknowledging Khosla’s provocative comment while defending his company’s track record. “Vinod is provocative in ways sometimes that are interesting, but not completely accurate,” Patel said. He pointed to Cisco’s accelerated progress, stating, “Over the course of the past 18 months, Cisco has probably innovated more than the previous decade combined.”
While Patel acknowledged Khosla’s affinity for startups, he said that he is proud of his senior and experienced employees. Patel also highlighted employee satisfaction, noting that long-serving staff find the work “so intellectually stimulating” that they choose to stay rather than seek opportunities elsewhere. He tied this to recent financial performance, including 18% bookings growth and 10% revenue growth in the latest quarter, as evidence of the company’s renewed momentum under AI influences.