Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has proposed a “people credits” model that would tax artificial intelligence companies for each job their technologies replace, drawing a comparison to carbon credit systems used to penalize industrial pollution. Speaking virtually at the inaugural AI Symposium organized by the Harvard Kennedy School, Reddy argued that firms benefitting from automation should compensate workers and communities affected by technological displacement.
Reddy, an alumnus of the Kennedy School, described AI as “mankind’s greatest invention” but warned that it posed serious risks to employment, particularly in white-collar sectors critical to Hyderabad’s economy. He noted that while AI would boost company productivity, it would likely reduce entry-level hiring. “Entry-level jobs, and the total number of people big firms will hire and employ, will come down. But the total production of the company will increase,” he said, according to the Times of India.
The chief minister, who addressed the symposium remotely due to ongoing state budget sessions, became the first Indian keynote speaker at the event, according to the Deccan Chronicle. Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein opened the session, which featured discussions on artificial general intelligence and the geopolitics of computing power.
Reddy also outlined plans to build Bharat Future City, a 30,000-acre net-zero development south of Hyderabad featuring an AI City to host Global Capability Centres and sustainable data infrastructure. The initiative will include large-scale reskilling programs in collaboration with international universities such as Harvard to prepare workers for an AI-driven economy.
To mitigate potential disruption, Reddy said Telangana would focus on sectors less affected by automation, including tourism, green energy, electric vehicles, and manufacturing under a “China+1” strategy. Hyderabad currently hosts more than 100 Fortune 500 companies, and Reddy invited global technology leaders to invest in the state’s AI and green energy ecosystem.
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