Infosys billionaire NR Narayana Murthy isn’t buying the AI doomsday narrative. While the world spirals into fears of mass unemployment, India’s most iconic tech founder is calling it history repeating itself — and says the real skill you need has nothing to do with coding.
Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy just said what most tech leaders are afraid to say out loud — AI is not the job killer everyone thinks it is.
Speaking at the 25th anniversary of Bengaluru-based deeptech firm Ittiam Systems, Murthy drew a striking parallel with banking automation. When core banking solutions arrived, the UK and India both panicked about mass unemployment in the sector. What actually happened? More jobs, not fewer.
His argument is simple: technology shifts the nature of work, it doesn’t erase it. As AI takes over coding tasks, professionals will spend more time on something far harder to automate — clearly defining problems. Knowing what to build, not just how to build it, becomes the new premium skill.
To young Indians anxious about their careers, his message was direct: stop panicking, start mastering. Use AI as a tool, not a threat. Learn it, work with it, and stay ahead of it.
Murthy also pointed to the bigger picture — healthcare, agriculture, and IoT as the mega trends that will reshape India over the next decade, with AI-enabled remote diagnosis potentially solving one of the country’s oldest problems: rural healthcare access.
The real risk, he warned, isn’t AI. It’s falling behind because you refused to adapt.
