India needs to take lead in regulating AI, says Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran

At a time when there is heightened chatter about artificial intelligence, and more specifically ChatGPT, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said that the Indian government should take the lead in coming out with a regulatory framework for the technology that is a real disruptor of sorts.

"Artificial intelligence is a disruptor and it is real. It has implications on jobs. It has implications on skills that are required for the future," he while speaking at the BT Mindrush 2023 event in Mumbai on Wednesday.

"It has a huge regulatory issue because already different governments have started reacting differently and we have got to take the lead to come out with some kind of regulatory framework," added Chandrasekaran, who headed TCS before moving into the corner office at Tata Sons.

On a different note, he said that he is very bullish on India and bulk of the capital investments over the next five years will happen in India.

"Our capital investments for the next five years, 60-70% will be in India. The (planned) investment is about $90 billion, around $70 billion will be in India," said Chandrasekaran, who is also an avid marathoner.

He further said that while the conglomerate will grow at around 20 per cent year-on-year, the domestic growth will be relatively higher.

He further elaborated that while there is no slowdown in consumer business, the growth in demand in tier-2 locations is higher when compared to the metros or tier-1 cities.

Our focus is predominantly India in some businesses, he said.

On the subject of Air India, Chandra said that the group is working on the transformation of the airline and the revamp is happening across verticals.

"Our aim is to give a product that every Indian is proud of. But we need time," said Chandrasekaran.