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upGrad Enterprise aims to build the world’s largest GenAI learning initiative to enable high-growth companies to embrace technology’s transformative business impact. Hosted by Srikanth Iyengar, CEO, upGrad Enterprise, the GenAIrous Podcast, will curate an exciting roster of global experts and guests, who are at the cutting-edge of Generative AI, and its varied applications in the world of business.
Welcome to the GenAIrous Podcast where we unravel the fascinating world of generative AI and its transformative impact on business globally. I'm your host, Srikanth Iyengar, CEO of Upgrad Enterprise. At Upgrad Enterprise, we're building the world's largest JNI learning initiative, empowering high growth companies to leverage cutting edge technology. Each week, join me and the roster of global experts as we explore innovations shaping the world of work as we know it. Let's get generous.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:Welcome to another episode of the GenAIrous Podcast. I'm delighted that our guest today is mister CP Gurnani, legend of the tech services industry for a few decades now. CP, as he prefers to be called, is closely associated with upGrad as well. We have the pleasure of having CP on our board. CP, thank you for making time today.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Thank you. Thank you, Srikanth, for inviting me. I'm looking forward to this wonderful interactive, to and fro conversation.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:So, CP, you've, seen many, many technology changes over the years, over the decades that you've been in the industry, whether it be the dotcom boom, whether it be cloud entering the ecosystem, things like blockchain, and now, of course, generative AI. So what's your view, and what would you say to our listeners? Do you think, this is a fad, or do you think this is a true inflection point that will change the way things are done in the future? Because I know our listeners are quite divided on this point.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Srikanth, sorry for using that cliche, but those who think it is a fad will fade. You know, it's very clear that you have to go back and touch history a little bit. In the sixties when, or in eighties, when you went to the school, the AI Lab was more of a showpiece. I still remember going in eighties to MIT and very proudly shown a robotics lab where practically nothing was working. And it's not too long ago. But when you started watching movies, you realize that there is an, you know, outer space. There are planets to be conquered. And number 3 is that there is something called these flying machines, which are not just the aircrafts. So there were these drones in their different formats. So my belief is all of this coming together is happened now.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Gen AI to me is just a natural language interface. Conversational AI is about making it easier. And the next wave, all of us know is going to be more what is called AI. That means you and I will have a companion, which is an AI companion. Now this clearly shows that we now need to embrace exponential growth. We need to realize that AI is going to be part of our lives. It already is. Many of us started using MS Word that time and realized that it was telling us which parts of the dictionary we are making use of whether the spelling is right, whether the meaning is right. Then came in a Grammarly, which said grammar is right or not. Then now today, somebody writes essays for us.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:So my submission to all our friends on this podcast is you have no choice. No matter what work you do, all of us will have to embrace AI. All of us have already embraced AI without actually saying this is what we do because it is a tool it's a tool that you saw in your washing machine. It's a tool that you saw in your kitchens, in your mixers. Now it is becoming more friendly, and that is why, in my opinion, we will have to learn a lot harder and faster if we have to remain relevant.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:The fascinating points, CP. I couldn't agree more. I have seen personally how much AI has become an integral part of how I work, whether it be, like you said, drafting emails or researching companies or, you know, all of these things.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:But you brought up an interesting point there about, you know, CEOs. I know you're on the board of many companies. You've been the CEO of a listed company for, you know, a decade and a half. So my question to you is, what would you say to companies that are thinking through their response to this inflection point? Because every board that we know of is talking about GenAI They're talking about what their response is. They're asking their CEO, their CIO, their ex core team about what their plans are. So any thoughts, any advice from you on on how they should think through this?
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:So one is don't assume GenAI is AI. Please remember it became popular when a kid in your house started talking to Alexa, conversational AI. Then Gen AI where you could prompt in simple English and say, write a letter to on subscribing to a new service. The 3rd stage, as I said, is agentic AI. It will continue to evolve.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:So if I were to talk to a board tomorrow, I would only remind them of a few facts. AI is growing at about 50%. McKinsey, in its one of its reports says 50% of the companies that they consult with has an AI proof of concept which is being applied to their business models. So to me, to the corporate leaders, to the board of directors that I would go and talk to, I would only remind them, you have to join this race. You have to get ahead of this race.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:And more important is the leadership has to question if they are not doing 7 or 8 processes which are enabled by AI with a human touch. It's very important that we all realize data which sits or is captured cannot be harnessed unless we put it into a learning model. A learning model cannot become a tool till we convert it into a business usage. And a business usage, unless is applied with the human touch, may or may not be ethical. And, hence, it is important that boards embrace AI, boards work with professional agencies, boards realize that people need to be skilled, And boards also realize that human touch is important because sometimes data can be manipulated, and the way things are presented may not be accurate.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:Absolutely, CP. Thank you for that. I think, lots of very interesting points there in terms of applying it to the value chain, the ethical or responsible AI. So, going back to the end clients, any specific industries that you think are embracing this faster than others? Because you talked about companies you talk to having proof of concepts, which I know many companies do. But do you see differences between industries in terms of their mindset, whether it be a telecom company, whether it be manufacturing companies, banking, any any thoughts there?
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Interesting question. The reason is that there is no uniform pattern. In my opinion, the frontline soldier in defense is one of the early adopters. Manufacturing, I think, is a early adopter. Travel industry, most of us know that today you can fly an aircraft pretty much on autopilot. So it is very automated. You need a human touch because things can go wrong, and then somebody needs so human needs to take control. And my opinion is that most of the industries, which is to me is good news, that have embraced automation, there is a proof.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:For example, marketing knows writing a copy is no longer, the mainstay of their business. But personalizing a message will change the way they conduct their business. That means I'll give you an example. I launched a company called Ionos, AI on OS. The marketing plan of naming the company, logo design, and the messaging took less than 4 hours. Why? Because AI did the job.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Now think about it. If I have to personalize it for each individual for example, today, Srikanth, you and I walk into a hotel. How how many people recognize us? How many people when we walk into a reception, how many people would say, Srikanth, welcome? How many people will remember that you like, idli for a breakfast? How many people will remember that you like your bed to be a little harder? How many people will remember what your pillow preferences is? Whereas the moment you start putting a computer vision, then the security guard will know Srikanth has walked in. Somebody will remember your last stay, and, hence, your messaging is getting personalized. So to me, that is marketing. Marketing as personalization.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:I can go into many industries. All I'm trying to remind you is some jobs will become obsolete. Some jobs will get created. And for us as working professionals, for us as entrepreneurs, for us as executives, or for us as CEOs, it is important to remember we have to stay ahead of the curve. We have to be relevant. We have to be trained to capture the next wave. And that's probably not going to change, so let's capture the next wave. AI is here to benefit us. AI will help us automate the workflows. AI is here for us to provide better data analytics. AI is for here for allowing a small grocery store to know which kind of spices they need to stock and in which weather. I think AI can be leveraged, and AI will create jobs.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:Absolutely. See, we had that example was amazing where, you know, it's not just about AI. You also talked about facial recognition and how you can combine that with AI to drive hyper personalization when someone walks into a hotel lobby. So absolutely couldn't agree more. The new job point that you brought about brings me to my next question.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:Obviously, like technology inflation points in the past, some jobs will disappear like you said, but new jobs will get created. So in your view, what will the world look like in 5 or 7 years, say 2030? And what kind of new jobs or what kind of new roles will come up? Any any thoughts there?
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:So let's go back 10 years onto a airport. In an airport, you got into a queue. You printed your boarding pass. Right? And you found a lot of ground handling staff, working on you with you. Today, 99% of us are totally digital. 1% probably still go and still, stand in that queue. Now think about it. Now the same place you have now seen in India a concept called Digi Yatra where your face is becomes your identity all through, and it takes you right up to the gate. But airline data and the airport data is not yet integrated. Right? I'm just taking one scenario.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Second scenario is airline data is not integrated with the country you land in. Now all I'm trying to paint a scenario is you've seen automation happen in front of your own day to day living in the last 10 years, and you will see a progress where these islands of information will come together, and that seamless data integration will happen. We have already seen those vertical takeoff drones, which will deliver food, which will deliver medicine, which will ultimately deliver people in your favorite city called Bangalore from airport to their homes.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:So my point of view is very simple. Anything that you can imagine, 5 years later, there is no more science fiction. You will see it happening.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:And the point about Bangalore is so valid. I think we might end up saving a quarter or half of people's working lives by reducing the commute that they undergo. So completely. There will be tasks that are repetitive that AI will take on, but there will be new roles that come up that humans will need to be ready for. They'll need to be skilled for. So what would your advice to ex co's, exec committees, and boards be? How should they skill themselves, or how should they approach this world to ensure that people are prepared for new roles, especially in terms of their knowledge about AI and its implications?
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Every individual, whether you are a CEO or a chairman of a company, you need to upskill. You need to become a role model. You need to show why you are spending time on upskilling. So that is number 1. Number 2 is, you know, it is also not about one time learning. It is about continuous learning. Because the reality is the human experience and the technology both need to evolve together. No point in Nvidia or in Apple evolving if we don't evolve. And that to me, my friend, is the key message to everyone. Make skilling a priority given the changes AI will bring.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:You have no choice because organizations will have to adapt, and organizations can only adapt when the drivers adapt. And if you are the driver, you need to adapt first because your machine, your environment, your ecosystem is rapidly changing. So I think, I'm a huge believer that thinks like human experiences, customer experiences, technological tools, and productivity gains, they all are interrelated subjects. It's not about one against the other. So and if the core of all this is people, then we need to invest in people because that is what will make sure we stay ahead. And we are better prepared to harness new opportunities or new ways of working.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:Completely, CP, and I know that you are a living example of what you're preaching. I know you play around with AI yourself. You actually even built a company. You know, your company is very exciting AIonOS. Obviously, you're focused on the airline industry and the hospitality industry. Like you said, 2, industries that could probably get disrupted quite significantly by AI and, you know, you're at the ground floor, the cusp of it. Tell us a bit more about that.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:So so I think, again, after spending almost three and a half, four decades in IT industry, to me, it was looking back and saying, what are my unfulfilled promises? So my unfulfilled promises was, number 1, I've preached enough about creating product and platforms. Have I done enough to create India centric SaaS platforms? Number 2 is since I ended up traveling so much, I used to land up at airports, and I used to always, you know, admire the way airports have become smart cities. The way airports are no longer just for landing an aircraft or me taking a, you know, next flight out. I started buying gift for my family or grandchildren at the airport. And when I started visualizing, like, when I come to Bangalore airport I mean, one of my fine you know, favorite Asian restaurant is Chang. I mean, I create time to go and have a meal there. When I am at the Delhi airport, I mean, the number of people or meetings now I do in that Aero City only tells me is that airports and aviation industry are all compassing smart cities.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Number 2, when I started looking at data, data were residing in silos. I said, why can't I leverage AI to make more unified data approach? Number 3, when I started looking at the depth of the industry, the way it would impact the future of the way we live or the way we travel, the way we work, I mean, it just fascinated me so much that I didn't want to call my last job as the last hurrah. I wanted this to become the most exciting hurrah of my life.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:Fantastic. CP, thank you so much. That sounds exciting, and we wish you all the very best. Just to summarize for our listeners, we've gone from AI not being new, but how generative AI is driving demonstrable value and that reflects in the stock prices of companies, but also on the impact across different parts of the value chain. Customer experience being markedly different or superior as a result. How, you know, everybody, whether you're a CEO, whether you're working on the shop floor, you'll need to skill yourself on AI, and how it's a constant or a consistent learning process. It's not a one off, and how leaders need to set, an example and do it themselves. And, you know, like, CP said the next 10, 15 years are gonna see disruption at a scale not known. So, you know, the world is super, super exciting. CP, thank you again.
CP Gurnani, Co-Founder AIonOS:Thank you. Thank you.
Srikanth Iyengar, CEO upGrad Enterprise:And that concludes another episode of the GenAIrous Podcast. We are very grateful to our guests for their time and expertise. A big thank you to our producer, Shantha Shankar in Delhi, and our audio engineer, Nithin Shams in Berlin for making magic happen behind the scenes. Join us next time, and don't forget to subscribe to GenAIrous wherever you listen to your podcasts.