Artificial intelligence is making its way across sectors and warnings about job losses are growing louder. From tech CEOs to consultancy leaders, industry voices have cautioned that automation could displace large sections of the workforce.
But Dr Vishal Sikka, Founder and CEO of Vianai Systems, is urging people to step back from the panic.
“We are all so panicked about what AI is going to do to the work we did yesterday that we are not able to see the new applications that are possible because of this,” Sikka said during a conversation with Deepak Ajwani, Editor, The Economic Times (Digital) during the India AI Impact Summit.
Sikka argued that history shows new technologies often look threatening before their real applications emerge.
“When television first came, people were literally reading from a piece of paper on screen,” he said, suggesting that early use cases merely replicate old workflows. “We cannot think of the new applications that are possible because of the new media.”
He believes AI is currently in that phase. Mimicking yesterday’s work rather than unlocking tomorrow’s industries.
Productivity shock and possibility
There is no denying the disruption, he acknowledged. In software development alone, productivity gains of 20 to 50 times are already visible in some cases.
But instead of fixating on displacement, Sikka pointed to emerging use cases that would have been impractical earlier.
He cited an example of a distribution company that used AI-driven analysis to simulate pricing shocks and supply chain disruptions. A complex, country-level operational decision — something that would traditionally require quarters of consultant-led analysis — was made in days.
The broader point is that AI is not merely automating tasks. It is enabling decisions and workflows that previously weren’t economically or operationally feasible.
Democratisation beyond fear
On talent migration and fears of brain drain, Sikka suggested the debate around foundational model ownership misses a larger opportunity.
The real challenge, he said, is AI literacy at scale.
India must focus on enabling a billion people to use AI effectively, not just on building large language models domestically. If citizens understand AI’s capabilities and limitations, they can build new applications and industries on top of it.
A Green Revolution moment?
To explain what large-scale transformation looks like, Sikka invoked the Green Revolution.
Within a generation, India moved from dependence on foreign grain shipments to becoming a major agricultural producer. The shift required policy alignment, infrastructure, education, and ambition.
AI, he suggested, could follow a similar trajectory — if the goals are clear and access is broadened.
The infrastructure gap
He did not downplay the challenges.
Training advanced models requires enormous computing power. AI systems today consume vast energy resources — he noted that training early large models required gigawatt-hours of electricity.
Yet he offered a counterpoint: the human brain runs on roughly 20 watts.
If biology can achieve intelligence with such efficiency, the next frontier for AI, he argued, should not be sheer scale but smarter, more energy-efficient architectures.
From anxiety to agency
At a time when conversations around AI are dominated by layoffs, restructuring and automation forecasts, Sikka’s intervention shifts the lens.
Technological revolutions are disruptive. But their most transformative applications often become visible only after the initial wave of fear.
“We are so panicked about what AI is going to do with the work we did yesterday,” he said. “We are not able to see the new applications that are possible.”
For Sikka, the question is not whether AI will change jobs. It is whether societies can move fast enough to create the next generation of them.