Losing to AI.

In India, "The artificial intelligence (AI) explosion and the adoption of cloud services are growing rapidly, and as a result, our digital footprint is seeing a record growth. Currently our data center (DC)'s capacity is around 1.5 GW, but we are looking at a mega leap, potentially reaching 9 GW or more by 2030." ET. But, this is not creating employment. "Between 2004-05 and 2023, while approximately 5 million graduates were added each year, only around 2.8 million found employment, and an even smaller share found salaried employment, contributing to rising graduate employment and slowing earnings growth," said the State of Working India 2026 Report from the Azim Premji University. India has "367 million young people between the ages of 15 and 29," and 269 million constitute the potential workforce. "Between 2007 and 2017, the share of students from the poorest households enrolled in higher education rose from 8% to 17%." But, "Nearly 40% of graduates aged 15-25 - and 20% of those aged 25-29 - are jobless, far higher than the less educated." BBC. The Economic Survey of Delhi 2025-26 showed, "At every stage of schooling, girls are now enrolling in greater numbers than boys." At primary school level the ratio stands at 107.2 girls to 97.4 boys, at secondary school it is 104.7 girls to 98 boys and at higher secondary school it is 87.2 girls to 78.7 boys. TOI. This is in spite of "the sex ratio (at birth) in the capital has declined to 920 females per 1,000 males in 2024 as compared to 922 in 2023." The national average is 940 females per 1000 males. TNIE. "The overall unemployment rate among all graduates aged 22-29 runs as high as 33%. This rate drops to below 4% after age 30." "Young men eventually succumb to economic pressure and accept whatever work is available. Young women by contrast, often exit the labor force altogether, retreating into unpaid domestic care work. The data shows this starkly: male unemployment falls because men find some job, female unemployment falls because women stop looking," wrote Ajit Ranade. "Across India, the quiet machinery of automation has been reshaping - and in many cases eliminating - jobs that the middle class was built on." Unable to earn a decent income, about 9 million Indians lost $12 billion speculating on the Futures and Options (F&O) stock market, "roughly equal to the federal government's entire annual education budget." White collar job creation has fallen from 11% growth before 2020 to just 1% today and "Across IITs nationally, 8,000 of 21,500 graduates remain unemployed." A family that lived comfortably on Rs 1 million in 2016 would now need close to Rs 2 million a year. The salary, in most cases, has barely moved. The middle class is on a treadmill, and every year the belt speeds up." BBC. "Oracle has reportedly begun a a major round of job cuts in India, with around 12,000 employees said to have been laid off and more reductions likely in the coming weeks, according to affected staff." ET. "Over the past three-and-a-half decades, India's software industry has created millions of white-collar jobs, spawning a new middle class driven by high ambition and strong purchasing power." But, "Some CEOs have even warned that AI could eliminate 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs." BBC. It's a disaster for those laid off. Humiliation with despair. And, no future.