The Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution is transforming the global labour market, introducing a new wave of innovation across healthcare, logistics, and finance. Behind this commitment, however, haunts a more untrustworthy one: not manual labour, but white-collar work, which had been considered future-proof.
This is occasioned by the fact that the new wave of lay-offs in strategic technology sectors around the globe has proved to be a very ugly wake-up call: there is no knowledge worker safety. It is a disturbance that offers unparalleled opportunity and existential threat to the youngest population in the world and is further aggravated by a talent shortage and a systemic gender imbalance in India, where the digital economy is emerging.
It is not a problem of unemployment, but rather of professionals who are unavailable to fill the jobs.
According to estimates by NASSCOM and EY, 2.3 million AI jobs will be offered in India by 2027. However, only 1.2 million trained professionals are estimated to be willing to absorb them in the country. This means 1.5 million high-potential job switches would jumpstart industries and businesses, boosting GDP, which might otherwise be left unoccupied due to a crippling talent crunch.
It is not a toxicological hiatus. The new skills the AI economy needs are data management, AI responsibility, AI ethics, and field expertise. Our current skilling ecosystem, which relies heavily on our traditional coding camp programs and computer science degrees, is not sufficient to meet this multidisciplinary demand.
The gendered dimension of the AI revolution
This poses a particular threat to women. According to the World Bank, India has one of the lowest rates of female labour force participation in the world, and this is particularly apparent in STEM and AI. The AI-driven economy will result in women being disproportionately excluded, and one of the factors contributing to the presence of social and economic inequality in the system, unless the skilling drive is made intentionally inclusive.
Still, the field of AI can be a very powerful addition tool. Remote work, more flexible working hours, and the increased value of so-called soft skills (such as ethics, training, and user experience design), which women have been doing better, offer a real chance to get more women into the formal workforce.
Besides, since AI will be able to decrease a part of the unpaid care labour, which is predominantly run by women, it might allow for allocating productive time, which can be used on professional work, as long as it is accompanied by appropriate social policies that may allow for increasing a more equitable division of labour.
Bridging the Gap: A multi-stakeholder approach
Bridging the AI reskilling and gender gap requires a coordinated, national mission involving government, corporations, and educational institutions.
Government as the catalyst:
Policies should shift from less general policies to specific interventions. Initiatives such as Digital India and Skill India need to be bolstered with AI-specific courses available online in the local language. The government can:
Sponsor and encourage scholarships and mentorships for Women in AI.
Develop financial reward systems for companies reaching gender diversity in their AI teams.
Introduce AI literacy and ethics into the national education system, beginning at the secondary school level.
Corporate sector as the engine:
As the main consumer of AI talent, the private sector should be at the forefront. The first one is the skills-first approach to hiring, but reskilling as an ongoing investment is not an option. Companies should:
Devote a huge proportion of CSR budgets to simple AI and digital literacy efforts, especially among women in low-income and rural communities.
Launch internal reskilling programs to shift existing workers out of positions at risk of automation (e.g., manual software testing, simple data entry) and into new roles, such as AI integrators or data annotators.
Embrace explicit ethical standards for the application of AI, including a workforce transition and support strategy.
Educational institutions and private stakeholders as the bridge:
Academia and ed-tech have to be radically redefined so they are not left behind by technology.
The universities will be obliged to redesign courses that incorporate AI’s technical wisdom and infuse them with morals, critical thinking, and subject knowledge.
Collaboration between industry and academia is important to ensure courses are practical and incorporate real-world projects.
The ed-tech solutions may scale with the learning program, such as Google AI in India or Microsoft AI classroom programs; they must be more accessible and ubiquitous, and they must have special women’s tracks.
An intentional future
The effect of AI is already being felt at the workplace, and the new challenge is now to anticipate the new positions it will occupy. In the case of India, however, this is particularly important because the demographic dividend —the fact that the country has a large, young population— may turn into a burden unless labor, especially women, is prepared to face the future of work.
Reskilling should not be seen only as a priority of economic policy but as a national need for sustainable, inclusive growth. Although there is a vast talent shortage in India, the country also has a rare opportunity to turn it into a competitive edge by becoming a global AI talent hub, not only because of its vast size but also its deep focus on diversity, equity, and creativity. The moment of deliberate and calculated action has come.