New Delhi, October 26: The first job has always been about more than the salary. It is where a young graduate learns how an office really works, how a client complaint is handled, and how a small mistake is caught before it becomes a big one. A new white paper from IIT Madras suggests that this first rung of the career ladder is exactly where artificial intelligence will change work most visibly in India, even if it does not wipe out whole professions overnight.
The paper, titled How AI Is Reconfiguring Work in India, comes from the Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI) at IIT Madras. It was unveiled at the Industry Conclave on AI Governance 2026 and reported on Monday, October 26. Its central message is calm in a debate that usually swings between panic and hype: do not judge AI by whether it can do one task, judge it by how it changes tasks, jobs and careers over time.
Look at tasks, not just job titles
Most arguments about AI and jobs jump straight from a demonstration to a sweeping claim about an entire profession. The CeRAI researchers argue that this misses how work is actually organised. A job is a bundle of tasks, and only some of those tasks can be taken over by AI today. Others still need human judgement, accountability and the ability to handle an unusual situation.
The paper separates four levels: task, job, occupation and labour market outcome. AI taking over a task does not automatically mean a job disappears; the outcome depends on cost, capability, regulation, safety and how organisations restructure work.
Why entry-level roles feel it first
The paper highlights information technology, business process outsourcing (BPO), finance and professional services as sectors where entry-level work often involves repetitive, process-oriented tasks. Those are precisely the tasks AI handles most easily: sorting, drafting, checking, summarising and following a set procedure.
That matters because junior roles have historically worked like an apprenticeship. The paper notes that repetitive tasks are individually low value, but together they teach the judgement a worker later needs in a senior role. A fresher who processes dozens of files learns what a normal file looks like, and therefore spots the abnormal one. If
AI takes over those early tasks wholesale, companies may save time now but lose the training ground that produces experienced staff.
Not every workplace will change in the same way
One useful idea in the paper is what it calls AI-cost geography: where AI spreads depends on what it costs and what infrastructure is available. Cheaper AI tools can spread quickly in BPO work, bookkeeping and quality checking in medium-sized businesses. Work needing advanced AI, such as legal analysis or medical imaging, is more likely to stay concentrated in big cities and large companies with better technology and skills.
Across call centres, factories, banking, law, software and creative work, the effects are uneven: new and experienced workers, formal and informal workers, and small and large firms will not experience the same change. In one pattern, AI does most tasks and people check results; in another, people decide and use AI as support.
What the paper recommends
- Promote affordable, task-focused AI tools, especially for small businesses. Wider access can help smaller firms compete, rather than leaving AI gains only to large companies.
- Invest in India-specific research on AI and jobs. Map which tasks AI can handle, and where automation carries hidden costs in quality, trust, safety and responsibility.
- Build clear transition pathways for workers. AI adoption should come with reskilling, AI literacy and visible routes into new roles.
- Redesign roles, not just deploy tools. Jobs affected by AI need reshaping, whether by moving tasks around or creating new roles that oversee AI systems.
Prof Balaraman Ravindran, head of CeRAI, challenged the idea that AI always takes jobs away: most jobs contain many tasks, only some of which AI can undertake.
What this means for freshers right now
For freshers, build skills AI does not replace easily: checking an AI draft, explaining a decision, handling an exception and learning how a business runs. Look for roles offering supervised practice, not just chatbot access.
For employers, cutting junior roles may look efficient now but can hollow out the senior pipeline in a few years. Structured training and mentorship are how judgement is built.
As Indian companies adopt AI tools more widely, the question is no longer whether work will change. It is whether that change is planned, with training and transition paths built in, or whether it simply happens to the youngest workers first.
FAQs
What is the IIT Madras paper about?
A CeRAI paper using a task-based framework to explain how AI changes tasks, jobs and careers.
Will AI eliminate entry-level jobs in India?
Not necessarily. AI is more likely to automate routine tasks within junior roles first; the outcome depends on cost, regulation and how employers restructure work.
Which sectors are most affected?
IT, BPO, finance and professional services, whose junior roles involve repetitive, process-oriented tasks.
Who wrote the paper?
Prof Balaraman Ravindran, Gokul S Krishnan, VS Srividhya and Venkatraghavan KS, of CeRAI, IIT Madras.
What should freshers do?
Build judgement, verification and communication skills, and seek roles with supervised practice and mentorship.
Stay with Informeia for career, jobs and future-of-work updates as companies and colleges respond to this debate.
