SAP confident of new job creation by AI

German software-maker SAP SE is confident that artificial intelligence will create new jobs even as the rise of the new technology casts a shadow on jobs done by humans. The SAP board’s buoyant remarks on AI contrast with those of Google-parent Alphabet Inc’s chief executive Sundar Pichai, whose comments in the company’s post-earnings conference call with analysts put alarm bells on jobs of coders. At home in India, chief executives of the country’s largest software services companies have sought to assuage investor concerns over the threat to jobs posed by generative AI. While IBM’s book of business – bookings and actual sales – related to GenAI stood at more than $2 billion as of July 2024, Accenture, which is the world’s largest software services company, reported $3 billion in Gen AI bookings for the financial year ended August 2024. Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani in his address to shareholders at the company’s 43rd annual general meeting said that the embrace of Gen AI in large companies will be slower than in consumer-facing companies.