Gen AI can help Indian workers save 51 million work hours a week: Oliver Latham Of Pearson

Generative AI can help Indian workers save up to 51 million hours a week on the routine and repetitive tasks, a survey found.

A study conducted by Pearson found that by 2026 Gen AI is likely to save up to 2.6 million hours a week on professional skill development for Indian IT professionals. By leveraging AI-powered tools, IT professionals are expected to search for the right training videos or programmes, which will further lead to less time consumption in skill development.

Per the study, Gen AI also has the potential to save up to 1.8 million hours a week on the operational communication front at manufacturing plants. In the manufacturing sector, AI-powered tools have the potential to support safety training and conduct safety inspections.

Interestingly, Gen AI could also save up to 1.6 million work hours for law professionals on several fronts, including examining materials or documentation for accuracy and compliance, the study has found.

Commenting on the report, Oliver Latham, VP of strategy and growth for Pearson Workforce Skills, said, “In nearly every workplace, people spend their day on common, time-consuming tasks that eat away at productivity or their work-life balance. If those tasks could be augmented with generative AI, employers and their workers could reallocate time to the things that need a more human touch and mean more to their customers. Employers should consider how to incorporate this new technology into their teams and redesign roles to free people up to focus on more valuable, human tasks. They should also consider the need for training and support for employees, so they can use it effectively and responsibly.”

The tasks that Gen AI could potentially save time on are:

Promote products, services, or programmes (4.4 million hours)

Collect data about consumer needs or opinions (3.9 million hours)

Develop marketing or promotional materials (3.5 million hours)

Identify business or organisational opportunities (3.2 million hours)

Explain technical details of products or services (3 million hours)

Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise (2.6 million hours)

Maintain operational records (2.6 million hours)

Communicate with others about operational plans or activities (1.8 million hours)

Examine materials or documentation for accuracy or compliance (1.6 million hours)

Evaluate the quality or accuracy of data (1.5 million hours)

This comes on the back of the revelation of yet another study conducted by Bain & Company and Meta that found that conversational commerce is poised to spur the next big wave of business growth in India with support from Gen AI.

According to the study, already 70% of the large companies in the country have opted for customer engagement through chat platforms like WhatsApp. In fact, 60% of the large companies are planning to boost investment in their spending on conversational platforms over the next 3-4 years.

Interestingly, customers are also giving preference to chat bots with 50% preferring it for everyday tasks like paying bills, booking travel, and accessing bank statements.