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As AI handles routine or repetitive tasks, professionals will be able to shift focus toward higher-value, creative and strategic responsibilities, says Microsoft’s Puneet Chandok.
Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, said the current AI wave is unlike previous technological revolutions, such as internet, mobile or cloud computing due to its ability to scale cognition itself.
Artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape the nature of work by breaking jobs into smaller task components rather than destroying employment, Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India and South Asia, said on Tuesday, seeking to calm fears about AI-led job losses.
Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Democratizing AI Resources for Economic Growth and Social Good event, the inaugural session of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Chandok stressed that AI’s real impact will be structural transformation, not displacement.
“AI will not kill jobs. AI will unbundle jobs… Your job is a bundle of tasks. What AI will do is it will unbundle it,” he said, as reported by ndtv.com.
He explained that as AI handles routine or repetitive tasks, professionals will be able to shift their focus toward higher-value, creative and strategic responsibilities. However, he warned that adapting to this transition will require continuous learning and skill development.
Chandok also highlighted the emerging role of AI agents, describing them as collaborators rather than software tools. “The real unlock will happen when Al moves from a tool on your phone or laptop to a true teammate,” he said, adding that such systems will act “with your permission, but not your involvement.”
According to him, the current wave of artificial intelligence is unlike previous technological revolutions such as the internet, mobile or cloud computing because of its ability to scale cognition itself. “We have potentially, for the first time in humankind, the ability to manufacture intelligence,” he said. “Intelligence is the most valuable commodity on the planet.”
India’s AI opportunity
In the Indian context, Chandok said the country is well positioned to lead the AI-driven global economy, citing strong adoption indicators. He noted that 92% of knowledge workers in India are already using AI tools and that 59% of businesses have adopted AI agents in some form.
He added that Microsoft plans to invest $17.5 billion in India’s data-centre capacity over the next few years, a move aimed at strengthening the country’s digital infrastructure and supporting large-scale AI deployment.
Focus on democratising AI
In a LinkedIn post following the event, Chandok underlined that access alone is not enough to ensure inclusive AI growth. “To democratise AI, we must move beyond simple access and focus on diffusion through skilling,” he wrote.
“We are committed to ensuring that AI-driven opportunities reach every layer of society, driving both economic growth and social good – from training teachers in classrooms to building AI employee training pathways for enterprises,” he added.
His remarks come amid growing global debate over AI’s impact on employment, productivity and inequality, with policymakers and companies increasingly focused on balancing innovation with workforce readiness.
Recently, Dario Amodei, chief executive of Claude maker Anthropic, said software engineering as a profession could effectively become obsolete within the next 12 months. While the claim has sparked debate, it has also drawn support from industry leaders, including Sridhar Vembu, founder of Zoho, who says the warning deserves serious attention.
Amodei made the remarks last month at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, where he spoke about how rapidly AI is reshaping jobs, productivity and the global economy. He argued that the impact of AI on employment is no longer theoretical, particularly in software development.
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