Bhubaneswar: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has ushered in exciting times with a question mark hanging on jobs, but students have to chart their own course by creating jobs, Dr Anand Deshpande, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Persistent Systems, said on Saturday.
“We are moving towards a situation where work will increase but jobs will decrease. Instead of looking for jobs, you have to think how to create jobs,” Deshpande said during an interaction with students of SOA Deemed to be University here.
Replying to a question on AI and the future, he said AI would have amazing ability to solve problems and push up productivity.
AI writes better codes than humans today but it can also distort facts like no one can, Deshpande said adding two countries—USA and China– were ahead today in the field of AI.
SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda presided over the program which was organised by the university and the Atal Incubation Centre-SOA Foundation. It was also addressed by Prof Damodar Acharya, Chairman of SOA Advisory Board.
Deshpande, who heads the Pune-based global digital engineering company, said most of those born after 2000 were expected to live for 100 years considering the rapid progress medical science had been making in recent times and were expected to work for the next 60 years till 2085.
“You are living in India which is a happening place today but what you are learning now will not last 60 years. No company you join after leaving the university will last six decades,” he said.
Deshpande, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur which was the first institute to launch courses in Computer Science, studied and worked in the USA before returning to India in 1990 to launch his own company.
He advised the students to have an aspiration and purpose in life saying “you should know where you are going.”
“The need is for continuous learning while students should realize the importance of team work and networking. Don’t compromise your core values. What is important is loyalty to your profession,” he said.
Stating that it was normal to make mistakes, Deshpande said it was not a big deal.
Tennis legend Pete Sampras was told that he had a bad backhand but he had a great forehand. That did not stop him from winning 14 grand slam titles, he said.
