A lot of individuals in the business world are talking about what AI can accomplish at work after the New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact was made public yesterday in India’s busy city. When Wipro’s Chief Technology Officer, Hari Shetty, argued that AI won’t take away IT jobs but will instead keep them for the next 20 years if professionals learn three important skills, there was even more criticism. This statement comes at a very significant time since tech CEOs and international leaders are convening in New Delhi to talk about the pros and cons of AI, with a focus on how to use technology ethically and connect with people.
Shetty’s statements, which were spoken during a well-known panel, go against the common idea that AI will make IT employment go away. His statements mean a lot because India’s tech industry employs more than 5 million people and is a big part of the country’s $250 billion IT services export economy. As companies like Wipro, which is worth $10 billion, move toward employing AI, the “AI job debate” has been more heated. Some people are worried about losing their employment, while others say that productivity will go up. This article goes into further detail about Shetty’s prediction, explains the New Delhi Declaration, and talks about the three talents he thinks IT needs to survive in a world governed by AI.
The New Delhi Declaration: A Call for AI to Be Responsible Everywhere
The New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact that was released yesterday was a big step forward for tech policy all over the world. The Indian government and IT groups from around the world put on the event, which was attended by more than 500 leaders from businesses, ministries, and colleges. The statement tells us how to get the most out of AI while minimizing its negative effects, such job loss. Some of the most important rules are that AI deployments on a large scale must be checked for their impacts, that programs to help people learn new skills should be supported, and that there should be global standards for clear AI algorithms.
This plan fits perfectly with what Hari Shetty mentioned. He told a full room that AI doesn’t eliminate jobs; it makes human intelligence stronger.Shetty went on to say, “AI won’t take over IT jobs; it will change them.” He pointed to Wipro’s own research, which showed that coding teams that used AI were 30% more productive. People like Sam Altman of OpenAI, who recently said that “significant job disruption” would happen if nothing was done, have a very different view of the future than this one.
The timing of the announcement was not a coincidence. India boasts the most IT workers in the world, yet things are very stressful there. Nasscom’s 2025 survey found that 40% of Indian IT companies are ramping up their use of AI. This might mean that things like entering data and fixing code will happen on their own. On the other hand, Shetty stressed evolution over extinction, making the statement a plan for long-term growth.
The AI Job Debate: Hope vs. Fear
The “AI job debate” has split the tech community. The McKinsey Global Institute says that by 2030, 800 million occupations around the world might be done by machines. This is what people who are negative say. Some of the most at-risk jobs are in IT. Goldman Sachs says that AI might take away 300 million full-time jobs in the U.S. Entry-level coders in India are the most likely to be affected.
People who support it, like Shetty, use real-life instances. People haven’t lost their employment because of Wipro’s AI systems, like HOLMES. Instead, they’ve had to take on extra work. Engineers no longer write boilerplate code; they now watch AI models. According to Deloitte’s 2025 Tech Trends and other global research, 69% of business leaders would prefer retrain the people they already have than hire new ones. Events that have already happened are what Shetty’s 20-year time period is built on. The internet boom of the 1990s, for example, created more jobs than it destroyed. AI might keep IT employment around until 2045.
But some people think it’s not conceivable. Experts in the field of employment say that retraining a lot of people is still hard; only 25% of workers in a World Economic Forum study last year got official AI training. “Being clear is the key,” Shetty remarked straight. Only abilities that work well with AI will last.
Wipro’s Playbook: How to Get Ahead Even When AI Changes Everything
Wipro is one of India’s “Big Four” IT service companies, along with TCS, Infosys, and HCL. It demonstrates how tough you are. AI agreements of $1.2 billion helped the company make 5% more money in the last three months of 2025. Srinivas Pallia was the CEO at the time. Shetty has worked for Wipro for 25 years. He is in charge of the AI Center of Excellence, which has taught 50,000 employees how to use generative AI tools.
According to Shetty, Wipro has found that AI does 70% of dull jobs, which frees people up to conduct more meaningful work. After the talk, he delved into further detail, saying, “IT jobs will stay busy for 20 years because legacy systems, customization, and ethical oversight need people to be creative.” This fits with Gartner’s prediction that the AI services market would be worth $500 billion by 2028, but there won’t be enough trained IT workers to fill the jobs.
Wipro aims to work with NVIDIA and Microsoft to apply AI to solutions for banks and healthcare clients. Shetty brought out some internal statistics and indicated that teams that used AI copilots handled tickets 40% faster without needing to hire more personnel. This “augmentation model” offers him hope that IT positions won’t disappear, but will instead become jobs that govern AI.
Shetty’s Survival Kit for IT Workers: Three Important Skills
Shetty makes the brave claim that IT professions will still be important in 20 years based on three abilities. These aren’t simply broad statements; they are exact skills that Wipro’s deployment data and industry standards back up.
AI Prompt Engineering and Model Orchestration: the skill of giving big language models (LLMs) the proper inputs and linking different AI agents so they can solve tough problems together. Shetty says that faulty prompts use up to 50% of AI’s computing power, while experts who know how to do this can make the output 300% better. For example, in Wipro’s projects, prompt engineers cut the number of mistakes made during automated testing from 15% to 2%.
Experts need to make sure that AI models are fair, open, and follow rules like the EU AI Act. This is called ethical AI governance and bias mitigation. Shetty made it clear that this was not up for debate: “AI without ethics is a risk.” Fairness measurements and other techniques help skilled professionals find biases, which helps audits go smoothly. IDC says that this is a talent gap that 80% of businesses have.
Hybrid systems integration is the process of combining ancient mainframes with new AI. Companies still employ systems that were created in the COBOL era. Integrators that use them with neural networks will get the greatest results. Wipro’s achievement in updating more than 500 old apps shows this. Integrators also earn 25% more than regular workers.
What Businesses Are Saying: From Uncertainty to Acceptance
The business world has quickly reacted to what Shetty stated. K. Krithivasan, the CEO of TCS, also showed his support by establishing a $1 billion fund to help workers learn new skills. Infosys, on the other hand, set up a “AI Skills Academy” for 100,000 of its employees. Accenture and other U.S. companies applauded the news. Julie Sweet, the CEO, said it was in line with their goal to follow AI ethics in 2025.
A lot of people don’t trust. Debjani Ghosh, the head of Nasscom, said, “Twenty years is too hopeful without policy muscle.” She noted that each year, India’s 2 million new IT workers are having trouble learning new skills. Fractal Analytics and other small businesses are worried that they won’t be able to compete if they don’t have these talents. Some companies, like Wipro, see potential in the global response, while others are worried about not having enough skilled workers.
Wipro’s CTO says something quite bold: AI won’t take away IT jobs; it will keep people busy for 20 years, but only for these three skills.
