India fortunate to have youthful, innovative population embracing AI: IMF Chief

While speaking at a panel discussion titled "Building Trusted AI at Scale: Cities, Startups & Digital Sovereignty" at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the IMF chief said, "countries are positioned differently. Some countries have more demand for AI skills than supply while others have more supply than demand, and some have neither. So we have to work on multiple fronts based on concrete assessments of conditions in countries and localities."

She said the IMF will continue to work with countries to understand what is happening and how the organization can project policies for the future.

"I would make three conclusions so far, and of course we have to be agile in how we look at AI. The first is that education has to be revamped for a new world. People have to learn how to learn, not just learn specific skills.

"Second, there has to be support for those in local economies where the labor market is changing dramatically. There has to be social protection and social support, so they don't feel what happened with industrial workers in the United States when their jobs were exported overseas," she said.

"Third, it is very important that we look at the overall enabling environment. Why, in some places, AI makes things faster and in others it doesn't. What we find is not very surprising. Some parts of the economy and society are naturally better positioned because they are already part of the digital world where there is more demand. Entrepreneurship is more dominant," IMF chief added.

She said we have to carefully observe what is actually happening and then project. "What are the implications for policymakers and the Fund? We did a very interesting piece of research. In the United States, assessing how much AI is affecting the labor market, we found that one in ten jobs already requires additional skills. And for those who have these skills, the job pays better."

"Now, with money in their pockets, people then go and buy more local services. They go to restaurants and entertainment, creating demand for low-skilled jobs. To our surprise, the total impact on employment in the aggregate is positive. One job with AI creates 1.3 jobs in total employment," she said.

"But what does that mean? It means that a smaller segment of people get higher opportunities. A larger segment, yes, they can have jobs, but jobs that are on the lower end of the pay scale. The most problematic is the fate of those squeezed in the middle. Their jobs don't change. In relative terms, they pay less, and some of these jobs disappear," she highlighted.

Speaking on the fear of job losses due to AI, Georgieva said, "What concerns us most is that the jobs that disappear tend to be entry-level jobs. They are routine, and they are easily automated. So, if you are in this part of the labor market that is easily automated, of course that creates a risk for you."

"It is important for the world to be very attentive to what works, what doesn't work, and not sugarcoat the picture. Because if we do, we would end up with people revolting against globalization despite its benefits. Yes, the world as a whole benefited, but some communities were devastated, and the world did not pay attention to them in a timely manner," she added. (ANI)