Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Artificial intelligenceHR softwareLatest NewsHR TechnologyRedundancy

India: CEO replaces 90% of support staff with AI

by Adam McCulloch 13 Jul 2023
by Adam McCulloch 13 Jul 2023 Photograph: Shutterstock
Photograph: Shutterstock

A CEO in India has announced he has replaced 90% of his company’s support staff with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Meanwhile, the use of the technology for commentaries at Wimbledon has caused a mild ruckus.

Response and resolution times of customer queries had drastically improved as a result of implementing the technology, Suumit Shah, founder of Dukaan, said on Twitter.

Shah added that laying off staff had been a tough but necessary decision, stating: “Given the state of economy, start-ups are prioritising profitability over striving to become unicorns, and so are we,” he wrote.

He added that the firm was hiring for multiple roles.

In March, Goldman Sachs published a report showing that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs. In India, several firms are investing into AI to develop products, triggering fears over job losses.

In the UK, consultation on a government white paper on AI regulation, which is likely to be “pro-innovation”, closed late last month. The results are currently being analysed. The government’s ambition is for the UK to become an “AI superpower” according to science and technology secretary Michelle Donelan in her ministerial foreword to the white paper. She added that “the development and deployment of AI can also present ethical challenges which do not always have clear answers”.

Jobs replaced by AI?

AI: What if I like repetitive tasks?

AI can help level the playing field for SMEs

How will AI impact data protection compliance?

AI could boost headcount and skills, recruiter predicts 

On the risk of job losses, Dr Ventsislav Ivanov, AI expert and lecturer at Oxford Business College, told Personnel Today there was more likely to be a realignment than mass redundancies. He said: “The invention of mechanised looms in the industrial revolution may have resulted in the loss of jobs among handweavers, but it created new positions for people to work the machines.

“AI will cause a similar revolution in the modern workplace, and encourage a shift from workers performing repetitive tasks themselves to staff using AI to do it for them.

Ivanov added: “Anyone who has tried ChatGPT themselves will quickly realise that getting good results requires phrasing your requests clearly, specifically and unambiguously.

“Like the mechanised looms of yesteryear, AI is a tool – no more, no less. Workers who learn how to use this modern tool will find themselves in great demand.”

AI commentary at Wimbledon

Meanwhile, at this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament, the use of AI to provide commentary was strongly criticised by former player Annabel Croft, who warned that if the technology was rolled out in all sectors it would “kill humanity”.

She told the BBC: “Listening to that, it was very stiff. It was emotionless, no feelings at all. Whoever is taking the decision to put a robot on to commentary and, of course, into the wider context of all jobs in life, this is going to kill humanity. I mean, what is going on? I think it’s an insult to my profession that you can put a robot into that place.

“A robot has no feelings – but that’s probably going to be built in next. I feel like we all need to throw our phones in the river and stop our brains being overtaken by AI.”

She added: “I really hope somebody can stop it.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The technology was implemented at Wimbledon by IBM UK, with the aim of providing commentary to matches that currently did not receive any, such as junior and wheelchair matches. Kevin Farrar, head of sports partnerships at IBM UK, said the goal was not to replace presenters but give equal commentary to all matches. He added that the biggest challenge so far when producing the highlight reels had been pronouncing the players’ names.

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more human resources jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
Molson Coors scraps CV requirement for some roles
next post
BBC must exercise duty of care for Huw Edwards

You may also like

CIPD appoints expert in AI to boost support...

8 May 2025

How can businesses build protections for gig workers?

7 May 2025

Quarter of employees worried AI will threaten jobs...

28 Apr 2025

How can HR battle the rise in identity...

27 Apr 2025

Google concerned by slow AI take-up in UK

25 Apr 2025

HR teams build AI use but seek more...

14 Apr 2025

The future of work: is the UK workforce...

11 Mar 2025

New employment rights top priority for HR teams

10 Mar 2025

Singapore’s biggest bank slashes 10% of its workforce...

25 Feb 2025

What does the TV show Severance tell us...

14 Feb 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+