97% of HR Leaders in India Expect Humans to Work Alongside AI by 2027: Report

Mumbai - Nearly 97 per cent of HR leaders in India’s technology sector believe that by 2027, work will primarily be carried out by humans collaborating closely with artificial intelligence, rather than interacting with it only intermittently, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The study by Nasscom and Indeed, based on a survey of more than 120 HR leaders across the country’s tech industry, found that between 20 and 40 per cent of work in technology firms is already driven by AI.

About 45 per cent of respondents said that more than 40 per cent of software development tasks are now handled by AI, the report noted.

“As AI adoption accelerates, skilling and capability building will be critical to ensuring that talent continues to move up the value chain and delivers meaningful outcomes for businesses,” said Ketaki Karnik, Head of Research at Nasscom.

The report pointed to a clear transition from AI being used as a supplementary tool to becoming an integral component of daily roles, workflows and decision-making. Strong adoption was reported in areas such as intelligent automation (39 per cent) and business process management (37 per cent).

At the same time, over half of the respondents flagged issues related to low-quality or incomplete AI outputs, highlighting the continued need for human oversight.

The most effective human–AI collaboration is emerging in higher-order functions such as scope definition, system architecture and data model design. In contrast, routine and repetitive tasks, including boilerplate code generation and unit test creation, are expected to be increasingly automated over the next two to three years.

Hiring practices are also shifting toward skills-based evaluation, with 85 per cent of managers prioritising skills over formal credentials, and 98 per cent stressing the importance of hybrid and multidisciplinary capabilities.

The report further noted that 83 per cent of HR leaders have redesigned roles by introducing AI-specific positions, while 79 per cent have prioritised internal reskilling as their primary AI adoption strategy.

In terms of work models, around 80 per cent of organisations have adopted a hybrid approach, with most employees working from the office at least three days a week.

— IANS