As more businesses around the world are moving towards AI adoption, one big question that needs addressing is — will it take over human jobs or is it helping people work better? In an exclusive interaction with Times Now Tech, Ankur Kothari Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Automation Anywhere, shared how Agentic Process Automation (APA) and AI are creating more job opportunities instead of reducing them.
AI And Jobs
The general belief is that talent and technology will go together. Kothari also believes the same.
“I have seen this debate for the last 20 years. Any technology which is this impactful, people have these fears and rightly so. Over the years, I have seen more work happening when you combine the power, when you combine talent with technology. Yes, some processes do get eliminated, or certain types of work stop happening. But overall, it leads to growth in the workforce. We’re seeing that now with the use of AI,” he said.
Previously, automation was something only the IT department handled, he noted.
“Now, we are seeing lots of businesses, citizen developers, leveraging AI and automation together with support of IT. New roles are being created and new offerings are being created. It is not just automating existing processes, but people are creating new revenue streams. That is new offerings that are coming out,” he added.
Automation Anywhere saw 56,000 completions of its agentic AI certification courses in the last quarter itself. It shows that more and more people want to learn about AI and upgrade their skills.
“So, we see differently where people are adopting the skill and adding to what they can drive value for their organisation,” Kothari said.
What Is APA And How It Works
APA or Agentic Process Automation combines the power of agentic AI and automation to streamline business processes. It brings together different technologies — including AI agents, robots, enterprise co-pilots, document extraction tools, and APIs — on a single platform. These elements work together to orchestrate complex workflows and get real work done efficiently.
Talking about how APA is helping businesses in real life, Kothari said: “This platform is used by thousands of customers worldwide — from financial services to healthcare, to manufacturing, to oil, gas and retail. They are using it in their back office or front office – from finance processes like accounts payable and accounts receivable to HR processes, IT processes, help desk automation and customer support or customer service automation.”
He also shared one example: “One of our customers, a large bank, has taken a loan process, they have created a new AI-driven loan process, where they are processing loans within 30 minutes compared to some competitors who are taking days. Now, this not only drives a lot of efficiency and accuracy and reduces risk but it has created a new line of revenue stream for them.”
Meanwhile, Automation Anywhere has also joined hands with The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides mid-day meals to over 2.35 million children in over 25,000 schools. This partnership has already helped speed up donor engagement processes by 70 per cent, cutting the time from over 20 hours to just 40 minutes.
Akshaya Patra is now using automation to improve donor management, supply chain efficiency and route planning. These changes allow them to focus more on outreach and expanding their mission.
Next, the partnership will use AI to make smarter buying decisions and reduce food waste. It will also help improve delivery planning for Akshaya Patra’s 2,200+ vehicles running on over 1,500 routes.