India well-poised to benefit from new jobs emerging with AI: Meta India head

India is well-poised to take advantage of new jobs that emerge from advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to Meta India Vice President Sandhya Devanathan. In an interview to PTI, Devanathan weighed in on raging debate around AI and its impact on jobs, saying she is of the firm belief that AI would now lead to new opportunities for India.

"I think that India is potentially well-poised to take advantage of new jobs that could come up with AI," she said. Devanathan said that the nature of jobs may change, however.

"I think it offers opportunities for new kind of jobs to get created...jobs may change in terms of what they look like, but there will be new things that could end up coming up as a result of that (AI)...and it would lead to new opportunities for us as a country," she said.

The views assume significance in the backdrop of persistent debate in tech circles and civil societies on whether AI will augment the labour market or displace workers.

The Economic Survey in July warned about potential challenges that AI could present, saying it "will create barriers and hurdles to sustained high growth rates for India in the coming years and decades" and that the corporate sector has a responsibility "to think harder about ways AI will augment labour rather than displace workers".

On the regulatory frameworks in areas such as AI, personal data protection as well as competition in digital markets, Devanathan said Meta welcomes regulations which are "progressive" and balance user safety and innovation.

"This is evolving as we speak...We welcome any regulation that is progressive. There is a need to balance user and citizens safety with innovation, for the country. Both are important goals and we welcome regulations that balance both," she said.

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta counts India among its key priority markets globally, as rising popularity of its offerings -- from Reels to business messaging -- and increased engagement on AI tools is supercharging growth here.

India is a leading market for short-form video Reels' watch-time on Instagram, and the country also represents one of the largest markets for WhatsApp globally. India has also emerged as the largest adopter of Meta AI, the AI-powered chatbot. Globally, Meta's revenue rose 22 per cent to $39.1 billion for the April to June quarter. Meta Platforms topped street expectations for second quarter revenue and gave a strong sales outlook for the third quarter amid healthy global advertising demand.