With artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as generative AI taking over, 93 per cent of Indian workers reported excitement over the prospect of using generative AI at work. In India, 91 per cent say their companies are considering ways of using generative AI, according to a report by Salesforce. 

Indian workers agree that AI skills are important. Almost a third of workers (29 per cent) rank AI skills as among the top three most-important digital skills right now, which will rise further over the next five years, said the report.

It further noted that despite its importance to their future skill set, only 4 out of 10 Indian workers said their day-to-day role involves AI. A mere 34 per cent said their role involves other, related digital skills such as encryption and cyber security, and only 27 per cent claim to use coding and app development skills. 

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The industry indexing the highest for AI skills is travel and tourism; however, even in this industry, only 67 per cent use AI skills today. Outside this sector, the number drops further. 21 per cent of those in the public sector and 25 per cent of those in healthcare report they use AI skills in their day-to-day role.

The path forward is upskilling. All Indian workers surveyed believe businesses should prioritse AI skills in their employee development strategy.

As a result of the rise in AI and automation, Indian employees say data security and ethical AI and automation skills will become increasingly more important in the workplace. When asked what soft skills are likely be more important as a result, employees ranked customer relationship and creative skills as the highest, said the report. 

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