TLDR: Deloitte South Asia CEO Romal Shetty asserts that Artificial Intelligence, while disruptive, will generate significantly more opportunities than it displaces. He emphasizes the critical need for robust ethical oversight, explainability, and the preservation of critical thinking skills, particularly in educational settings, to navigate AI’s dual nature as both a major opportunity and a potential danger.
New Delhi, July 15, 2025 – Artificial Intelligence (AI), the rapidly evolving technological force reshaping industries and daily life, is poised to create a net positive impact on the global economy, according to Romal Shetty, CEO of Deloitte South Asia. Speaking on the transformative power of AI, Shetty underscored that the technology will ‘create far more opportunities than it eliminates,’ a perspective that offers a hopeful outlook amidst concerns of job displacement.
Shetty characterized AI as both ‘a big opportunity and big danger in the same breath,’ highlighting its dual capacity to disrupt existing business models while simultaneously fostering the creation of entirely new avenues for growth. He stressed that critical thinking and ethical oversight must remain central as society adapts to this new era of AI integration.
A significant concern raised by Shetty pertains to the impact of AI on education. He emphasized the necessity of setting clear boundaries for AI’s introduction in early schooling, cautioning that ‘over dependence in early school years could impact critical thinking.’ He elaborated, ‘There is a certain level in schools or colleges where you do your thinking. And therefore, linkage there significantly to AI and generating information on AI is not a good thing because it may stop you from thinking.’
Furthermore, Shetty highlighted the crucial aspects of AI development and deployment, stating, ‘A very important part of AI is to ensure that you can always have it explainable. You can always have the ethics covered of it. The principles covered, the governance covered.’ He warned that because AI is designed to ‘mimic a lot of human behaviour,’ it inherently carries the risk of replicating human biases, necessitating careful attention to ethical frameworks.
Comparing AI’s current impact to historical industrial revolutions, Shetty noted, ‘AI is probably the most disruptive thing that has happened in our lifetime…in this decade at least it is the biggest disruption. And it is both. It can disrupt but it can also create many more things.’ He drew parallels to past transformations, where unemployment did not significantly rise; instead, ‘Newer jobs will get created compared to the past. The old specific jobs could probably go out but newer jobs will be created.’
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As an example of AI’s practical applications, Shetty cited the use of ‘digital twins’ to simulate and optimize factory operations, showcasing how AI can enhance efficiency and innovation across various sectors. His remarks reinforce Deloitte’s broader focus on balancing AI innovation with robust ethical governance, as reflected in other Deloitte studies that prioritize balancing innovation with regulation, ensuring data transparency, and mitigating bias in AI systems.
