'Too much hype, humans aren't going anywhere': Former HDFC CEO Aditya Puri on AI job fears

Amid advances in artificial intelligence and rising concerns over white-collar job losses, former HDFC CEO Aditya Puri said there is "too much hype" around the technology and that fears of large-scale human replacement are overstated. 

Also read: Narayana Murthy has some advice for startup founders headed for IPO

Speaking in an interview alongside Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, Puri said while AI will change the way businesses operate, predictions of widespread job destruction and overnight disruption are exaggerated.

"There is too much hype on AI and what it can do and how quickly it can do it. And correspondingly, there's too much negativity in terms of how many jobs will be lost, etc.," he said while speaking to Moneycontrol. 

He acknowledged that change is inevitable, but rejected sweeping predictions of job losses. "Will some jobs be lost? Yes. Will new jobs be created? Yes. So if you look at AI, it will have growth. It will probably need some reskilling. But it doesn't mean that if you say 60% of the jobs will be replaced by AI, there'll be 60% job losses. Nothing like that happens."

The veteran banker said that AI has to "come down from the hype what it is today" and how it can "make a return on investment for the people down below."

He pointed to emerging roles as evidence that adaptation is already underway. "You look at it today, the biggest hiring by people is for prompters. What's the difference between a prompter and a fellow who helped you implement your software system? Then you have the data scientist."

Puri said there will be some change, but this "negativism on loss of jobs is way too far." "Total replacement is not going to happen," he added. 

Drawing a distinction between rule-based systems and more advanced models, he added, "You can call it rover robotic in terms of machine learning, which is rule-based. You will have agentic AI, but the human is not going anywhere. It'll be a combination that will be delivered."

The former HDFC CEO said this whole AI thing isn't going to happen tomorrow. "It's going to take a decade or two."

Narayana Murthy, too, offered his own perspective. He said his own experiments with using generative AI for productivity improvement have shown him that a "smarter mind will get better quality and better level of productivity from using these assistive technologies."

Rather than fearing displacement, he advised young professionals to deepen their engagement with the tools. "Therefore, there is no need for youngsters to get worried. All that they need to do is become masters of these technologies by using them in an assistive manner and by quickly learning how to use these technologies for their own benefit by smart and hard work, by quickly learning new ideas, and by discipline."

He said the world "will not end for smart and hardworking people."

When asked how financial services firms could see an 'AI-first' bank or fintech model, Puri acknowledged structural shifts but resisted talk of revolution. "Will it change? Of course it'll change. Will it revolutionise? Probably not," the veteran banker said. "When you look at it for banking, it'll change the way marketing is done. It'll change the way pre-preparation for customer calls is done. It'll change credit. It'll change fraud. It'll change certain processes."

But, he added, this evolution will be incremental. "All this will happen slowly. Some is already happening. And the ultimate remains the same. Whether he uses AI or not, he probably has to give the customer a better product, a better user interface, less friction, and you can make it cheaper for the company. That's what it's supposed to do."