AI Could Change Who Gets To Become An Entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur and starting something on your own has traditionally required money, people and access to specialised expertise. AI is changing at least one of those equations: access to expertise, Microsoft India President Puneet Chandok tells NDTV.

A single person can now use AI for research, coding, analysis, writing, design, customer support and other tasks that previously required multiple people or expensive specialists, is Chandok's argument.

AI is indeed dramatically expanding what a small team can attempt and in fact, across the world stories of one-person startups are emerging as well. In fact, the Wall Street Journal recently reported on "The Rise of Million-Dollar Companies With Just One Employee."

Chandok describes AI as "a cognitive amplifier" and says people effectively have access to "a PhD level researcher, a smart consultant, a lawyer, a doctor, all combined."

AI Could Change Where People Start Their Careers

"AI will reduce the floor and raise the ceiling for all of us," Chandok says. What he means here is that with a lower floor, people can get started without spending years doing certain repetitive/low-value tasks. The "grunt work" as he calls it.

Younger workers potentially can now start with more value-adding work rather than years of grunt work, he adds.

By higher ceiling he means that individuals and small teams are now able to attempt much more ambitious work.

If AI Removes The Grunt Work, What Happens To Entry-Level Jobs?

Chandok sees the removal of grunt work as potentially positive because people can start higher up the value chain.

In an essay last month, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned that AI will rapidly squeeze entry-level hiring and eliminate many entry and mid-level roles over the coming decade.

So, if AI removes some of the work through which young people traditionally acquired experience, does it create a new opportunity or remove the first rung of the career ladder?

That does remain a big question especially in the minds of fresh grads who may not be keen to take an entrepreneurial route.

From A Kid In Patna To A Three-Person Startup

Chandok paints a picture of what could be possible and says:

"A small town in India, a cyber cafe, a kid sitting in Patna can access the same resources, the same energy, the same infrastructure, the same power, and can build."

AI that way is indeed a great leveller as a young person in a smaller city may no longer need to be sitting inside a large company surrounded by specialists to access sophisticated capabilities.

"We're already seeing companies, three or four people coming together and making a massive company. It wasn't possible when I passed out of college," Chandok points out.