Companies seem to be waking up to the idea that AI employees could soon be a reality.
Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma has said that the company could one day have AI employees, or even an AI CFO (Chief Financial Officer). He added that the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs is inevitable as it has to be incorporated into routine workflows. “Sooner or later we will have to start using AI as an employee or even as a CFO,” he said.
Sharma said that as most jobs done by humans will be done by AI, the focus should be on building core products. He added that the goal for Paytm is to go beyond a fintech and become an AI-first company. Sharma though said that while AI would automate many jobs, it could also help create new ones.
Sharma also announced some interesting AI plans for Paytm. He said that Paytm plans to pilot an AI-powered passbook that would send users a rap song of their monthly expenditure. Sharma didn’t disclose a timeline for the launch, but said that it would be accessible to customers soon. He added that the product will use Paytm’s data to develop tunes. Paytm had earlier partnered with AI startup Perplexity to integrate AI-powered search into its app.
Paytm isn’t the first company to speak of AI drastically changing their workflows. Amazon has said that it expects to see its corporate workforce shrink over the next few years because of gains from AI. Google and Microsoft have said that 30 percent of the code at their companies is now written by AI. Klarna and Salesforce have slowed down or stopped hiring of human employees because of AI. Closer home, Inmobi has said that it expects 80% of its code to be eventually automated, and engineers could lose jobs. And with Paytm speaking of AI employees and even AI CFOs, it appears that AI could change how workplaces look in the coming years.