As the world grapples with the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), we caught up with Vijay Guntur, CTO and Head of Ecosystems at HCLTech, on the sidelines of the WEF’s Annual Meeting at Davos, to discuss how AI implementation is evolving and HCLTech’s role in this space.

Guntur highlighted that clients are now much more prepared to adopt and derive value from AI, marking a shift from the previous year's focus on experimentation. “While last year was a year of experimentation, I think this year will be a year of actually getting value out of AI,” he said.

One of the key trends Guntur identified was the accelerating pace of Agentic AI.

“You should see Agentic AI in action in months, if not faster,” he said.

This sentiment was echoed in his observations about quantum computing from Davos, which he believes may be available for practical applications within the next 18 to 24 months, much sooner than previously anticipated.

Responsible AI as a competitive advantage

The importance of responsible AI was also highlighted. According to recently released research from HCLTech in partnership with MIT, Implementing responsible AI in the generative age, 87% of respondents considered responsible AI a priority, despite 85% believing they were not yet ready to implement it effectively.

“AI can be a tremendous force of positive change in businesses and society at large, but its full potential can only be realized when it can be trusted,” he said.

Excitement around Agentic AI use cases

Exciting Agentic AI use cases are already emerging. Guntur provided specific examples of how HCLTech is already integrating the technology into solutions and services, such as the development of a healthcare advisor that can make autonomous decisions and a more efficient hiring process with different agents handling various aspects of the recruitment chain, amongst others. You can read more about HCLTech’s Agentic AI capabilities here.

An AI-enabled workforce

Addressing the potential impact of AI on the workforce, Guntur acknowledged that certain job activities will be replaced, but many more new jobs will be created. He also believes that employees who can learn new skills and adapt to the changing workflows will have more enriching work experiences.

Additionally, Guntur highlighted the importance of a dual approach to upskilling and reskilling, where employees invest in their own learning, and organizations provide firm-specific knowledge and training. HCLTech, for example, has implemented several programs to equip its employees with the necessary skills and knowledge.

AI differentiation in a crowded market

Reflecting on HCLTech's differentiation in the AI space, Guntur referred to the company's early investments in building the necessary infrastructure, such as a dedicated research team back in 2017, semiconductor chips and data centers. However, he believes the real differentiator lies in the organization's ability to successfully adapt to large scale changes that are being perpetrated by AI.

"The differentiation will come from how to adapt to the change ahead, how to prepare the organization for service transformation and the ability to disrupt our services with AI and deliver services with AI," he said.