Sikka, whose venture is in early stages, said people need to be educated about AI as not many people in the world right now are well-versed with the technology. Sikka said fewer than 250,000 people in the world know about machine learning so far, and that its deeper understanding would lead to broader applications.

Rajagopalan headed the Design Thinking, a creative, user-centred approach to problem solving and help the company implement it.

Infosys on Friday issued a statement saying 'while the board and the company are focused on the future, consistent with the company's commitment to good governance, the new chairman will get a full briefing on these investigations and the appropriate course of action will be decided.'

Infosys said the first 500 of the 2,000 North Carolina workers will be appointed by the end of two years, with the remainder to be hired in the state by 2021.

Cautioning Infosys employees that the road ahead is long and not easy, company chief executive officer (CEO) Vishal Sikka has stressed the importance of automation and warned against \"lackadaisical\" attitude towards greater value creation.

Infosys makes a comeback to the Top 5 of the BT500 listing, after a five-year hiatus.

\"Q1FY17 has been disappointing but this has come after couple of good quarters and YoY CC growth of 10.9 per cent is healthy and FY17 growth guidance also implies above industry growth rate,\" said brokerage.

Computing giants believe quantum computers could make their artificial-intelligence software much more powerful and unlock scientific leaps in areas like materials science.

Employees at SAP and business associates said Sikka was seen as the bridge between the \"brains\" - the IT engineers that helped him create the flagship HANA programme and the besuited executives that spearheaded product sales globally. He was also SAP's first chief technology officer.