AI and the future of work

"For a driver at Uber or a delivery agent at Zomato or Swiggy, their boss is a piece of software. It's real, it's scary, and that's where all of us are headed," says KL Mukesh, a Bengaluru-based investor who has worked across the world and now spends most of his time with NGOs.

- Charles Assisi

For a driver at Uber or a delivery agent at Zomato or Swiggy, their boss is a piece of software. It's real, it's scary, and that's where all of us are headed," says KL Mukesh, a Bengaluru-based investor who has worked across the world and now spends most of his time with NGOs. He's worried about the future of jobs, and he's not alone. That fear resonates with people like Kavi Arasu, a colleague and principal at Flyntrok Consulting. Both of them have witnessed how technology is rapidly redrawing the contours of work.

Arasu's concerns don't revolve merely around cutting costs or automating routine tasks. "We love talking about productivity gains," he says, "but what happens when the subtle differences and layers of skill that people bring to the table are no longer hard to replicate?" This question looms over not just blue-collar workers, but also managers, consultants and teachers—the very people who thought they stood on safer ground.