IT companies in India are focusing on generative AI, with top players like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra all competing to win market share in the space. Generative AI is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that creates content, code and synthetic data with the help of a programme or a prompt from the user.
This technology provides enterprises with the ability to automate tasks like translating languages, analysing text, audio, video and code, much like humans would. Businesses are using AI to gain a competitive advantage, with TCS COO, NG Subramaniam mentioning in the company’s earnings call that generative AI was already a revenue generating vertical.
Meanwhile, other firms including Accenture, Google, Microsoft and Microsoft-backed OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT) are involved in the battle for deploying generative AI solutions worldwide.IT companies are investing in their own research and development, while also partnering with the aforementioned companies to build and customise enterprise-level use cases.
Tech Mahindra is helping customers save millions with computer vision-based solutions and asset inspection solutions, while Wipro has established the Generative AI Centre of Excellence to work with technology partners and academia to advance the field.
However, one major challenge for these IT firms is the scarcity of skilled AI talent. Companies like Wipro are launching an enterprise-wide AI talent management plan while TCS is investing in talent upskilling and cross-skilling to retain organisational knowledge.
The usage of AI also raises questions about privacy and cyber security, with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo all banning ChatGPT across their offices globally.
Tata Consultancy Services is a multinational IT services and consulting firm headquartered in Mumbai. The company was founded in 1968 and employs more than 4.45 lakh people in 46 countries. It is one of the largest IT services companies by revenue and is listed in the Nifty 50 index.
Nidhi Srivastava is the Vice President and Global Head of the Google Business Unit at TCS. She heads the team that builds and customises AI-based solutions on top of Google’s tools. She has over 19 years of IT industry experience, having worked in several industry domains such as Manufacturing, E-Commerce, and Consumer Study.
