India's young workers have a new colleague: AI

Across India, young workers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up routine tasks, whether researching news stories, translating copy, analyzing business data or sorting legal documents.

But the technology can get things wrong, and relying on it too heavily carries risks.

A faster way to work

Journalist Farah Kazmi, 28, who works for a news portal in New Delhi, used AI while reporting on rules governing stray animals and feeding them in gated communities. She asked an AI model to find the Supreme Court's latest guidelines, earlier court rulings and recent dog-bite cases.

"Since it can take quite a lot of time to search Google for specific articles about court rulings, previous judgments or recent dog-bite cases, I asked AI to find them for me," Kazmi told DW.

It gave her a starting point for relevant articles and cases, which she then read and cross-checked herself.

She also uses AI to translate English copy into Hindi for the Hindi news team, and Hindi quotes into English. But translations need careful checking, Kazmi said, pointing out that in one case, AI interpreted the name "Suraj" as "sun," changing the sentence's meaning.

"Before using AI, I mostly relied on Google Translate. It was more literal and did not always understand the context. AI gives a much better and more context-based translation, although it still needs to be checked and corrected," she said.

AI has not fundamentally changed journalism, which still involves talking to people and reporting from the field, Kazmi underlined.

"Ultimately, I see AI as a tool that helps with research and saves time, but the actual verification and reporting still has to be done by the journalist," she said.

Yajatt Misra, 28, business strategy and international markets manager at Kanoria Chemicals and Industries, uses AI to analyze data, summarize large volumes of information, prepare first drafts and structure ideas.

It also helps him turn financial and business information from different sources into management updates and presentations.

"Things like summarizing information, preparing first drafts, analyzing data and putting together presentations take less time now," Misra told DW.

He said the challenge is knowing when to trust the output. AI can miss business context or get details wrong, so its numbers, logic and conclusions need checking.

"There is less need to spend time on repetitive tasks and more focus on analysis, problem-solving and providing useful insights to the business," he said.

'A junior colleague' with limitations

Rakshanda Deka, a 30-year-old lawyer, uses AI to sort large bundles of client documents chronologically or by theme and produce a first list of important dates. Some systems link information to the original documents so lawyers can check the source.

AI can also help prepare standard applications and petitions using a lawyer's own format and style.

"If used sensibly, and without outsourcing the substantive legal thinking, AI is basically like having a sincere fresher or junior colleague," Deka told DW.

But AI can confidently produce false information, making human checking essential.

"AI often gives you false information dressed up very confidently as fact. So, it is imperative that you double-check everything," she said.

Deka is also concerned that some young lawyers may use AI as a substitute for their own thinking. "A lot of the youngest lawyers are beginning to use AI as a substitute for themselves," she said.

Widespread use of AI

The use of AI is widespread among younger Indians, with a survey by Deloitte this year finding that 93% of Gen Z respondents and 95% of millennial respondents used AI in their day-to-day work.

A separate Emeritus survey found that 82% of respondents aged 15 to 28 used AI tools at least weekly to learn or develop new skills.

Dimple Khubchandani, founder of recruitment firm Synoverge Consultants, told DW that employers increasingly want young professionals who can think critically, solve problems and check AI-generated work rather than simply handle basic research or drafting.

"AI is not necessarily eliminating entire job categories, but it is creating leaner teams and raising expectations," she said.

Khubchandani said a marketing agency that once might have hired four junior copywriters could now hire one to use AI for initial drafts, leaving more time to edit, refine the tone and shape strategy.

"AI is raising the baseline capability expected from employees on day one," she said.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India's largest IT services companies, said in its 2025-26 annual report that it had scaled up its "Human+AI" operating model and was embedding AI across services and software development.

A changing job market

Shrijay Sheth, co-founder of LegalWiz.in, an online legal and compliance service, sees the shift across the economy.

"AI's impact on job profiles isn't an anticipation. It is a reality now," Sheth told DW. "From basic research to strategy, operations, marketing, design and development, AI is changing how work gets done."

In software development, Sheth said, developers are spending less time writing code from scratch and more time monitoring, testing and refining AI-generated output.

"Business, product and problem-solving ability, coupled with skills around working with AI platforms, is valued over mere technical ability to work with any particular coding language," he said.

What the numbers show

The question of what happens to entry-level work is becoming harder to ignore.

A 2025 report by NITI Aayog, the Indian government's public policy think tank, cites data from the Center of Advanced Study in India suggesting that more than 60% of formal-sector jobs could be susceptible to automation by 2030, particularly in IT and business-process services.

It also warns of slower hiring for entry-level software engineers and identifies junior quality-assurance and Level 1 support roles as vulnerable.

The World Bank's October 2026 India Development Update says AI's long-term impact on India's labor market remains uncertain.

The country could benefit from its technical workforce, IT sector and digital infrastructure, the report says, but stronger workforce skills and wider access to AI capabilities will be needed if the gains are to be broadly shared.

"The productivity enhancement and job loss are both real," Sheth said.

Deka believes lawyers will increasingly be distinguished by how rigorously they check AI's work. "I think the differentiation is increasingly coming from the thoroughness of post-AI verification and confirmation," she said.