Narayana Murthy Praises ChatGPT For Boosting Productivity, Sees AI As Job Creator Not Disruptor

Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, has voiced an optimistic view on the potential of artificial intelligence, particularly its ability to foster growth in the technology sector despite rising concerns over job losses.

Murthy also shared a personal insight into how he has embraced AI, revealing that he uses OpenAI's ChatGPT to help prepare speeches and lectures.

Photo Credit: PTI

He explained how the generative AI tool has drastically improved his efficiency. "Earlier...it would take...about 25-30 hours to prepare a lecture...but with ChatGPT...in a matter of five hours, I could improve the draft," Murthy noted, describing a significant five-fold boost in productivity.

Addressing fears that AI could render many roles obsolete, Murthy offered a more hopeful perspective. "This whole fear that technology will take away jobs is not right. It will create a different kind of job."

Reflecting on his experience using ChatGPT, he added: "For example, what I found in using ChatGPT for my speeches was the following: the smartness is in providing the requirement definition for my speech. The smartness is in asking the right question."

Murthy believes AI will enable professionals to engage with more complex and meaningful tasks.

"So, what will happen in the future is our programmers and analysts will become smarter and smarter in defining better and better requirements, more complex requirements. They will solve bigger problems, more complex problems. So, I am very positive about how AI will only enhance the growth rate of our industry," he said.

He argued that AI should be seen as a tool that augments human ability rather than replaces it. According to Murthy, the software industry stands to benefit immensely if companies adopt AI strategically to enhance both productivity and quality.

Recalling his early days in the late 1970s, when he worked on building reusable code skeletons, Murthy remarked that AI now allows programmers to automate such frameworks on a large scale.

"Once the skeletons are produced by AI, then it becomes extremely easy for the mass programmer, for the large number of programmers, to produce high-quality code, high-quality programs," he said.

Murthy also drew a comparison to the adoption of computers in the UK banking sector during the 1970s. He recounted that, at the time, unions resisted their introduction, fearing job losses.

However, after discussions with experts, union leaders were convinced that computers would raise productivity, helping staff complete their work more efficiently and improve their quality of life. As Murthy pointed out, this eventually resulted in a dramatic increase in employment.

"Jobs multiplied by a factor of 40 to 50 in the banking sector in both the UK and the US," he said, expressing confidence that AI would bring about similar gains in the 21st century.