AI as an Enabler, not a Threat

In a time when artificial intelligence is both celebrated as revolutionary and demonized as a creator of jobs, Zoho Corporation CEO Sridhar Vembu is urging a more practical, future-looking approach. Talking of the actual effect of AI, Vembu said that it makes engineers about 20% more efficient but does not displace them. This vision comes at a juncture when businesses are balancing on a tight rope between making the most of AI developments and maintaining human capital.

For Vembu, the strength of AI is augmentation, not automation. According to him, AI can make tasks like routine work, debugging code, and boilerplate code writing simpler, but it cannot perform the deep domain know-how, creativity, and context-aware decision-making that experienced engineers do.

Why the 20% Productivity Boost Matters

The 20% increase might not sound earth-shattering at first glance, but in software development parlance, it's a huge productivity boost. AI-based tools such as Copilot, ChatGPT, and DeepCode assist developers in minimizing friction in their coding workflow, whether by automatically creating test cases, marking out possible bugs, or proposing optimized code. What took hours of trial and error can now be done in minutes.

This productivity gain is reflected in quicker product development timelines, quicker go-to-market schedules, and streamlined operations. In essence, engineers can do more with less now, which means innovation at scale, without expanding team sizes or exhausting talent.

The Human Element AI Can't Replace

Even as AI has been evolving so quickly, it still lacks contextual intelligence, the ability to comprehend a company's strategic objectives, customer pain points, and cross-functional constraints. As Vembu points out, AI lacks empathy, judgment, and long-term vision - qualities that are inherent in human engineers who purposefully design, scale, and responsibly innovate.

Additionally, engineers are the ones who train, tune, and control AI systems. Without the control of humans, even sophisticated AI models may develop into prejudice, inefficiency, or security loopholes. This highlights the importance of engineers keeping the wheel in hand, not only to employ AI, but to guide and control its path.

Upskilling is the New Job Security

Vembu's response also quietly underscores the need for ongoing learning. Those engineers who take the initiative to upskill in such spaces as machine learning, prompt engineering, and AI operations (AIOps) are future-proofing themselves. In the current job market, flexibility is currency.

Organizations need to shift their L&D strategies too, to include AI fluency in their tech teams. AI literacy will become as essential as coding soon. Progressive organizations have already incorporated AI tools into their SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) and are challenging engineers to tinker, iterate, and innovate.

Building Human-Centric AI Ecosystems

Instead of positioning AI as an employment-thieving villain, leaders such as Vembu promote establishing human-focused AI ecosystems, spaces in which machines are used to enhance human potential. Such a mindset supports ethical AI adoption, where machines are responsibly infused into workflows to complement, and not replace, human functions.

Indeed, this is in line with Zoho's philosophy. Zoho has invested tremendously in AI-powered productivity while keeping its people culture intact. Sustainable growth, to Zoho, means unlocking talent, not replacing it.

AI Is the Co-Pilot, Not the Captain

Sridhar Vembu's words are a wake-up call to both technology leaders and engineers alike: AI is not the threat, it's the change. If AI is utilized judiciously, AI turns into a co-pilot, not a captain. Man vs. machine is not the future of work but man with machine, working smarter, building quicker, and solving more profound challenges.

Rather than fighting AI, engineers need to step into it, learn its mechanisms, and make it a source of competitive edge. Because ultimately, the most skilled engineers won't be replaced by AI, they'll be the ones designing it.