While group companies have been leveraging artificial intelligence to improve productivity and efficiency, to reduce human time and effort, Chandrasekaran’s pitch to appoint “AI champions” comes amid industries across the world making multi-billion dollar investments in AI.
Tata Group has partnered with US-based chip maker Nvidia to develop AI solutions to catalyse transformation across its units ranging from manufacturing to consumer businesses.
Apart from pursuing the benefits of AI, Chandrasekaran wants group companies to prioritise customer satisfaction. “The next decade will belong to companies who excel in giving customers excellent experiences,” said Chandrasekaran in his New Year message to 10 lakh employees. “With our growing footprint in consumer businesses, we have to bring empathy to every interaction — be that in Air India, Tata Motors or Titan. Brand Tata must be recognisable across all companies,” he said.
Earlier this year, Air India’s reputation took a knock following the ‘peegate’ incident. Brand TCS too took a hit following the bribe-for-jobs scam. Even Tata Steel fired employees for breaching its ethical code.
Chandrasekaran has asked group companies to prepare for disruption and geopolitical volatility in 2024 as the “world finds new rules to protect data privacy, curb inflation, reduce carbon emissions and perceptions of AI risk”. The chairman of the $150-billion conglomerate, which has a presence in several countries, said 2024 is a year of elections, with 40 nations heading to the polls. “Geopolitics is a potential source of volatility.”
While the near-term global outlook feels shadowed with uncertainty, India’s future is bright, Chandrasekaran said. “In 2023, we fared better than most. Our economy is thriving, with GDP on track to double to $7 trillion over the next five years. India is poised to benefit from the shifts transforming the world.” While generative AI is a potential antidote to India’s inequality problems, the country should be careful in introducing the right rules, he said.
As AI systems become increasingly sophisticated, governments across the world are grappling with how to control the potential negative consequences of AI without suppressing innovation. Generative AI, a subcategory of AI, refers to systems that can produce human-like content including text, imagery and even music. Recent advancements in this space include GPT-4.
A KPMG report said that 70% of the global CEOs surveyed indicated that they are investing heavily in generative AI as their competitive edge for the future. About 52% of them said they expected to see a return on their investment in three to five years. Increased profitability was cited as the number one benefit of implementing generative AI within an organization, the report said.
