Tata Consultancy Services will not hire at the scale it did in the past as artificial intelligence agents begin taking over work currently performed by humans, Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said at the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.
Chandrasekaran outlined an AI-first vision for the IT giant, stating that AI agents are being built at such scale that their number could eventually match its human workforce. TCS currently employs more than 600,000 people globally, and the chairman said the company expects to have an equal number of AI agents and employees.
The shift will fundamentally reduce large-scale hiring across the IT services industry. “Will this decrease hiring? Absolutely. The company will not be hiring the kind of numbers it used to hire,” Chandrasekaran said during the meeting with shareholders. He emphasized that increased usage of AI agents would curb the number of people hired by both TCS and the broader IT sector as tasks are automated.
Despite the hiring slowdown, TCS is not planning to downsize its staff. The company will focus on creating new AI-driven roles where artificial intelligence works alongside employees rather than replacing jobs. Chandrasekaran stressed that AI will augment staff and fundamentally redesign business operations.
TCS has reported significant progress in its AI capabilities. The company’s AI revenue has reached an annualized $2.5 billion with a 22% consecutive quarter growth rate, according to Chandrasekaran’s presentation to shareholders.
This announcement follows recent restructuring at TCS, including the elimination of approximately 12,000 positions in middle and senior management tiers last year. The company attributed those job cuts to skill mismatches rather than AI adoption, though the chairman’s latest statement indicates AI will drive future hiring decisions.
Chandrasekaran projected that by the end of the decade, all of TCS’s revenue will incorporate AI elements. The broader IT services industry is expected to follow similar patterns as clients increasingly demand AI-integrated solutions.
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