Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not reduce job opportunities; it will, instead, create more, said IIT Madras (IIT-M) Director V. Kamakoti here on Sunday (August 9).

On how employees adapt to new technologies, Mr. Kamakoti told reporters that cash used to be counted manually in banks. Later, when cash counting machines were introduced, cashiers did not lose their jobs. They learnt how to use the counting machine. Likewise, AI training is going on in several jobs. IIT-M offers AI for all, and many institutions are training their employees to use AI, he said.

Speaking at an event marking the diamond jubilee year global alumni day of the Government College of Engineering in Karuppur earlier in the day, he said tier-II cities such as Salem and Coimbatore provide education opportunities to rural students. One of the focus areas of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Viksit Bharat 2047 is encouraging rural students to join higher education.

The gross enrolment ratio in higher studies is 50% in Tamil Nadu while it is 30% nationwide. As per the New Education Policy 2020, the national gross enrolment ratio in higher studies should rise to 50% by 2035.

He also explained the importance of the contributions of the alumni of an institution, highlighting the 60,000-strong alumni of IIT-M and how one of them recently gave the institution ₹238 crore as grant. He added that the alumni help students as mentors, too.

Published - August 09, 2026 07:37 pm IST