AI risk real but more businesses can afford software engineers now: Sridhar Vembu

New Delhi: Zoho's Chief Scientist and Co-founder Sridhar Vembu on Thursday said that AI-driven changes could help industries and businesses that previously could not afford to hire software engineers, digital marketers may be able to hire them as the cost of such services falls.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling a single worker using AI tools to perform the work previously done by much larger teams, Vembu said, warning that the shift could lead to a painful economic rebalancing.

In a post on X, Vembu said that "any job performed on the computer" now faces the risk that one person using AI could do the work of 10 people, adding that the risk is becoming increasingly real.

"This does not mean 90 per cent of people working on a computer will have no work at all. Industries that previously could not afford to hire software engineers or digital marketers could afford them now," the post said.

Vembu said the broader impact would be painful rebalancing across the economy, adding that the only thing to do "is to accept that it is coming and be prepared for it."

The Zoho co-founder said earlier this month that the company has cut down its marketing budget and told employees to avoid expecting usual pay increases this year.

The business outlook for software is uncertain, and AI has raised costs dramatically, he wrote in a post on X.

Vembu further noted that there has been a four-fold increase in server prices needed for data centres and AI usage is increasing rapidly, leading to much higher expenses which the company is trying to control.

Earlier in May, Vembu cautioned that soaring valuations of world's largest technology companies, fuelled by investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence, exhibit characteristics of a market bubble that could eclipse the dot-com era.

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