For women, technology isn’t the challenge, jobs and income are, say experts at AI Impact Summit

As artificial intelligence reshapes the world of work, leaders at the AI Impact Summit on Tuesday said the real challenge is not just technology, but whether women can access the jobs and income opportunities it creates. 

Speaking during a session “Decoded: How AI Is Reshaping Work for Women”, Dr M M Tripathi, Director General of the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), said large-scale digital skilling is already enabling women to enter the tech workforce.  

“We scale 10 lakh people every year, and actually 40% of that are women.  Any student from humanities and commerce and any background can do the IT courses.” Tripathi said. 

NIELIT has also launched a Digital University Platform focused on AI and emerging technologies.  

 Skilling alone is not enough 

Yet, access to skills alone may not be enough. Atul Satija, Founder and CEO of The/Nudge Institute, raised a broader concern about the future of work itself. 

“If I ask where the work is going to be, I don’t think anybody has the answer,” he said. While AI may boost productivity, “the biggest sword dangling on us is that will we have enough work for everyone.” 

Satija argued that India’s skilling ecosystem remains fragmented. “Most of India skilling is supply side skilling, not demand side skilling,” he said, adding that many government schemes train women but fail to connect them to actual jobs. Mobility and safety constraints make it harder for women to move to where jobs exist. “If we have to solve this, we have to take work where women are,” he said, calling for demand-side aggregator platforms that link women directly to employers. 

 Human-in-the-loop and inclusive AI 

Mythily Ramesh, Co-Founder and CEO of NextWealth, offered a more optimistic view on job creation in AI. Her company, which focuses on “human in the loop” AI services and employs about 60% women across small towns, believes automation will not eliminate work but transform it. 

“AI is probabilistic and can never be 100% perfect. You will always need the human in the loop to do the validation, testing, make it more trustworthy, reliable, more responsible,” she said. 

Citing industry estimates, she noted that while millions of jobs may be automated, even more could be created in new AI-driven services. For women, she said, inclusion is not just social policy but business logic. “It is a business imperative to have women doing this human-in-the-loop work,” especially in sectors like financial services, retail and marketplaces. 

Jona Repishti of Digital Green highlighted how AI tools such as FarmerChat are reaching women smallholder farmers with local language, voice and image-based advisory. By removing barriers such as high data costs and limited digital literacy, she said, AI can deliver “advice in a way that matters to them."