Are we ready for a world where AI takes care of jobs we used to do? | DW Business

Summary

The video discusses the advancements in AI in China and the importance of reskilling and upskilling in populous countries like India and China. The speaker, an Indian software CEO and advisor to the Indian government, highlights the necessity of international collaboration and partnerships for technological growth. He stresses the mutual dependency of India and China for economic progress and the challenges posed by geopolitical issues. The discussion also covers the need for alignment between academia and industry to address skill gaps and the significance of the World Economic Forum in facilitating these conversations.

Takeaways

• 🌟 ACR China is recognized as being far ahead in the field of AI, indicating a significant lead in innovation and technology.
• 📈 Reskilling and upskilling are identified as major opportunities and challenges, especially in populous countries like India and China, where there is a mismatch between the skills of the unemployed and the needs of the industry.
• 🌐 Geopolitical issues, such as tensions between India and China, the US and China, and Europe and China, are acknowledged but should not hinder trade and business opportunities.
• 🤝 The importance of partnerships and collaborations in business is emphasized, with the need to look beyond geopolitical issues and focus on economic growth.
• 🏢 The CEO of a software company from India sees China as an epicenter for innovation and is attending the World Economic Forum to understand potential opportunities for partnerships.
• 🚀 There is a call for companies to share knowledge and collaborate in fields like AI and cybersecurity, recognizing that successful companies cannot operate in isolation.
• 📊 Knowledge transfer is a concern in partnerships, with a need for a cautious approach to ensure that neither partner feels disadvantaged by sharing too much too soon.
• 👨‍🏫 The script highlights the gap between academia and industry, with a need for closer collaboration to prepare the workforce for the rapid changes in technology.
• 🔄 The necessity for continuous reskilling and upskilling is underscored, as the pace of technological advancement can quickly render certain skills obsolete.
• 🌍 The script suggests that the issues of employment and skilling are universal challenges that require open collaboration and the sharing of successful strategies among different countries.
• 🗣️ Language skills, such as English in China, are seen as an important aspect of skilling for the future workforce, alongside hard tech skills.

Q & A

Why does the speaker believe ACR China is far ahead in AI?

The speaker believes ACR China is far ahead in AI due to impressive outputs and advancements observed, particularly in areas like video AI and updates from platforms like WeChat.

What is the importance of the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China, according to the speaker?

The speaker highlights that the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China, is significant because it showcases China's intent to not operate in silos and emphasizes the importance of trade and collaboration for global business opportunities.

What are the speaker's objectives for attending the World Economic Forum in China?

The speaker's objectives include exploring potential opportunities for partnerships, understanding advancements in AI and other technologies, and finding new partners within China for collaboration.

How does the speaker view the relationship between geopolitical issues and trade?

The speaker believes that geopolitical issues should not interfere with trade, emphasizing the natural dependency between countries like India and China, as well as the need for collaboration despite political tensions.

What are the challenges and opportunities mentioned regarding reskilling and upskilling in India and China?

The challenges include the technology and industry being far ahead of academia, leading to unemployment among eligible people. Opportunities lie in bridging this gap through industry collaboration and updating skills to match industry needs.

Why does the speaker think knowledge transfer can be an issue in partnerships with Chinese companies?

The speaker acknowledges a fear on both sides of sharing too much information, suggesting that partnerships should start at the perimeter level to build trust without causing discomfort.

What example does the speaker give to illustrate the impact of AI on employment in India?

The speaker mentions that certain jobs, such as call center and customer support agent roles, are being replaced by AI, highlighting the need for reskilling and upskilling the young population to adapt to new job requirements.

How does the speaker suggest addressing the skill gap between industry and academia?

The speaker suggests that academia and universities should closely collaborate with the industry to understand and address the exact skill needs, which can change rapidly, necessitating continuous reskilling.

What is the speaker's perspective on the significance of Skilling and reskilling as a discussion topic at the World Economic Forum?

The speaker believes that Skilling and reskilling will be a core topic of discussion, given its importance for future employment and the need for universal solutions that can be adapted to different country contexts.

What does the speaker hope to achieve by sharing successful Skilling strategies between India and China?

The speaker hopes that by sharing successful strategies for Skilling and reskilling, countries can learn from each other and adopt customized approaches to address their specific employment challenges.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Exploring China-India Business Relations and AI

The speaker emphasizes the advanced state of AI in China and the significance of reskilling and upskilling. The discussion involves the CEO of an Indian software company, exploring the importance of attending the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China, to understand post-pandemic opportunities and innovations. Despite geopolitical tensions, the importance of trade and collaboration between China and India is highlighted, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and technology partnerships. The speaker expresses the need for businesses to understand potential opportunities and partnerships within China to stay competitive globally.

05:02

🤝 Navigating Knowledge Transfer and Reskilling Challenges

The discussion shifts to the challenges of knowledge transfer and the cautious approach required when partnering with Chinese companies. Both Indian and Chinese partners tend to start with limited sharing to avoid discomfort. The focus then turns to the critical need for reskilling and upskilling in populous countries like India and China, where technological advancements outpace academic institutions. The speaker underscores the necessity of industry collaboration with academia to bridge the skills gap and the importance of continuous reskilling due to the rapid pace of technological change. The discussion also touches on the global significance of these challenges and the need for openness and collaboration to address them effectively.

Keywords

💡AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. In the video, AI is discussed as a leading technology in China, with advancements in various applications such as video AI. The speaker highlights the importance of partnerships and collaboration in AI development to build successful AI companies.

💡Reskilling

Reskilling involves learning new skills or training employees in new areas to ensure they remain employable in a rapidly changing job market. The video emphasizes the need for reskilling in countries like India and China to bridge the gap between industry demands and academic preparation, particularly in response to technological advancements.

💡Upskilling

Upskilling refers to enhancing existing skills to keep up with industry changes and advancements. The speaker mentions upskilling as a major opportunity and challenge, especially in populous countries like India and China, to combat unemployment and ensure that the workforce remains competitive.

💡Partnerships

Partnerships are collaborative agreements between entities to work together towards common goals. The speaker emphasizes the importance of forming partnerships between Indian and Chinese companies, especially in technology sectors like AI and cybersecurity, to leverage mutual strengths and foster innovation.

💡Geopolitical Issues

Geopolitical issues refer to the influence of geography on political relations and economic strategies between countries. The video discusses the impact of geopolitical tensions on business relations between China, India, the US, and Europe, stressing that trade and collaboration should transcend these political barriers to promote mutual economic growth.

💡Innovation

Innovation involves creating new ideas, products, or processes that bring significant improvements or advancements. The speaker identifies China as a hub of innovation, especially in the post-pandemic world, and stresses the importance of attending events like the World Economic Forum to stay updated on these developments and explore business opportunities.

💡Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge transfer is the process of sharing or disseminating knowledge between different organizations or within parts of an organization. The speaker highlights concerns about knowledge transfer between Indian and Chinese companies, emphasizing the need for careful management to protect intellectual property while fostering collaboration.

💡Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is an international organization that brings together business, political, academic, and other leaders to discuss global economic issues. The speaker mentions the Summer Davos in Dalian, China, as a crucial event for networking and exploring business opportunities in the context of global economic dynamics.

💡Employment

Employment refers to the state of having paid work. The video addresses the challenge of unemployment in India and China due to technological advancements outpacing educational systems. The need for reskilling and upskilling the workforce to adapt to new job roles created by technology is highlighted as a critical issue.

💡Collaboration

Collaboration involves working jointly with others to achieve shared goals. The speaker underscores the necessity of international collaboration, particularly in technology sectors like AI, to drive innovation and overcome the limitations of working in isolation. This is presented as vital for building successful global companies.

Highlights

ACR China is far ahead in AI, presenting significant opportunities and challenges in reskilling and upskilling.

India and China relations and business opportunities are crucial for global companies.

China is now the epicenter for innovation, especially post-pandemic.

Attending the World Economic Forum in Dalian is vital for understanding potential partnerships in China.

China hosting the Summer Davos indicates its openness to trade and collaboration despite geopolitical tensions.

Geopolitical issues should not interfere with trade, as there is mutual dependency among countries like India, China, the US, and Europe.

China is advanced in AI but there is a lack of transparency about their developments.

Collaboration is essential for building successful AI companies; operating in silos is not feasible.

Knowledge transfer concerns exist, but partnerships can start at a perimeter level to mitigate risks.

Reskilling and upskilling are major opportunities and challenges in populous countries like India and China.

The gap between industry needs and academic preparation needs to be bridged through collaboration.

Both India and China face significant challenges in employment due to rapid technological advancements.

Language barriers and hard skills training are universal challenges in tech industries.

Future jobs and reskilling will be core topics at the World Economic Forum.

Sharing successful strategies between countries can help address common employment and skilling challenges.

Transcripts

I believe that ACR China is is far far

ahead when it comes to AI I think

reskilling and upskilling is going to be

is is a major opportunity and also a

challenge even in a country like India

China it's very unfortunate to see this

eligible in people being

unemployed so I'm here with suas scut

who's the CEO of a software company from

India and he's also an advisor to the

government of India and we would like to

talk about India and China relations and

business opportunity unities Zas you're

here at the world economic Forum in

dalan China here in this H Town in the

northeast of China why do you come to

China why is it important for a business

person to be here at this moment I think

uh China is now like the epicenter for

Innovation right now and I'm very I was

very curious and intrigued about what's

happening after the post pandemic World

in China and uh the Summer dorce is

taking place after a very long Gap and

and it was very important for I think

it's very important for every

businessman who uh who's building who's

building a global company of course not

to miss out about what's happening in

China and it was very important for us

and my company to understand uh

understand the potential opportunities

potential opportunities for Partnerships

in China here and yeah it's uh it's very

nice to attend the summer divorce after

after such a long Gap but still there

are G geoeconomic troubles uh between

India and China between China and the US

between China and Europe of course how

does this affect the mood here in China

uh I think the most important fact is

China organizing this summer divos the

annual me annual meeting of new

Champions here it itself shows their

intent that they cannot be running a

country in in silos and of for trade is

very important for China and uh I think

uh I think this event itself the fact

that they're hosting us uh is a classic

indicator the fact that it cannot be

writing it cannot be operating in silos

and and partnership and collaboration is

important and uh I think for trade or

business it's very very important to

keep the geopolitical aspects aside and

and to focus uh in in across economy and

also growth and uh even for India cannot

survive without China and the other way

around because uh India is one of the

largest importer of of Chinese goods and

the same with us and and Europe so uh I

think there is um I think there's a

natural dependency on on all of them and

all the

stakeholders so it's only that uh of

course

geopolitical I think geopolitical issues

should not come in the way of trade so

where do you see business opportunities

there are new technologies as for

example AI you also work in the field of

artificial in intelligence but that's

one really wants to share one's

knowledge as a company for example yeah

I mean I'm I believe that ACR China is

is far far ahead when it comes to AI but

the the problem is we do not know what's

really happening here and uh it's also

an opportunity for us to explore this

and and in any field of AI or uh cyber

security or or in general about

technology itself it's uh it's very

important that you need to you need to

collaborate you need to partner and uh

it's impossible to build uh in fact a

successful AI company in silos so it's

very important that they need to look at

Partnerships so it could be any Blue

Chip company uh which is aspiring to

become a global company has to has to

partner has to collaborate and uh and

and my my another objective here is also

to look for new partners within China uh

who would be who would be Keen for

Partnerships now you said you sing that

China is very much advanced in

artificial intelligence but you don't

really know why don't you know that I

think I've seen some of their output uh

against prompt uh maybe if you need to

Benchmark with open AI or with with

anything else like uh I think that video

uh I think that video AI is is much more

is much much Advanced like I'm on vat

and I'm seeing the updates that is

coming within vchart about uh like from

my friends about what's happening in AI

within China and uh it's it's very

impressive like to see at least output

which they claim it to be true so if at

all it's true then uh I I definitely

believe that they're far ahead than us

what about knowledge transfer also you

your company in India has also a lot of

knowledge of course as a software

company also in cyber security are you

worried a bit about knowledge transfer

or you think you can manage that with

Chinese compan is uh I think knowledge

transfer is going to be an issue and I

think uh when you need to partner with

ACR Chinese companies uh uh it's I mean

uh I'm sure that both the partners even

Indian partner and also Chinese partner

uh also believe that uh uh they should

not be sharing too much and the

partnership should be uh maybe should

start with the edge so um uh I think

there is a small amount of fear with

with both the Partners when they work

together and uh it's very important so

it's it's like walking on a tight rope

so you can't walk too fast you can't

walk too slow or else you'll fall so

it's exactly why uh you start the

partnership um at the perimeter level

where you you do not have to share too

many things so that it puts either of

the partner in kind of a discomfort you

see the way partnership will will

progress EV all and and after that you

can take it forward now a big topic here

is also the reskilling of work because

they need to be reskilled to be able to

work with the new

technologies where where do you see the

problems but also opportunities I think

reskilling and upskilling is uh is is

going to be is a major opportunity and

also a challenge even in a country like

India China and uh with with massive

populous country with this young

population out there uh it's very

unfortunate to see this eligible in

people being unemployed and only because

the technology or or the industry is far

far ahead than Academia and the

universities are far behind and it's

it's also very important uh to uh uh uh

in fact uh uh in fact to bridge this Gap

by upskilling and also reskilling with

more kind of industry collaboration and

I think uh for example across China now

they are forcing all their

uh younger population to learn English

and in in across India we we know that

certain jobs are already replaced with

AI and it's very very important for

these young people for example example

uh if it's call center or if it's

customer support agent it's no replace

with AI now it's very important that now

in India where you have you have a

massive population out there where even

if you go to um if a fuel station you

have somebody to fill your car uh which

never happens in Europe or the US so now

uh you need to figure out ways that you

could you could res skill them and

upskilling them of course Indian

government uh has a policy decision for

uh uh helping these uh individuals to be

skilled they've got various

schemes uh it's only that uh I think the

Academia and the university should uh uh

has to closely work with the industry to

understand the exact skill needs and uh

and the skill needs uh they need to

understand that it's not permanent it

can be disrupted within few months or

few years so they need to Res skill

again so you see the same problem here

in China or the same need to change in

in across China as well it's the same

thing and uh of course apart from apart

from language uh which is going to be

one of is one of the challenges for them

uh I think when it comes to the hard

skills or the tech skills I think it's

the same problem across it's not it's

not only in across China but everywhere

but I think the problem is uh is uh uh

is uh is more significant for countries

like India and also China because of the

population

itself now um do you see that this is a

topic that will over be overwhelmingly

discussed here in in in dalion or what

do you think is the most important issue

here I think uh I think the future jobs

and uh and and for Skilling and

reskilling upskilling is going to be one

of the core topic of uh of discussion

here and the world Forum uh has a very

strong focus on on Skilling itself and

I've seen many sessions in the agenda

which which is focusing on jobs or the

future of jobs and also Skilling so yeah

I think I think it's going to be a very

hot topic and um when it comes to

employment and and Skilling I think uh I

think the challenges is kind of

universal and it's very important to

have that openness and to collaborate

maybe something is worked for China I I

hope that they could share it with the

world about the the way if they are

looking to solve it and the same thing

for India as well if something's work

for India we would be happy to share the

way uh it was it was addressed with

Indian context and maybe you may have to

you may have to customize or you may

have to localize a template and you need

to you need to adopt in that

country thank you very much and have a

good

conference thanks a lot