AI Appreciation Day 2025: Is the Price of Progress Losing to Machines? As AI adoption accelerates, concerns mount over jobs, cybersecurity, and the human cost of automation

As we celebrate AI Appreciation Day today, beneath the surface of applause lies a sobering truth: while machines grow smarter, many Indians fear being left behind.

"It's a day to acknowledge the innovations that AI enables from smarter governance and efficient enterprises to empowered communities," says Umesh Shah, Director at Orient Technologies Limited, reflecting on the remarkable pace of India's AI adoption.

Indeed, the numbers tell a story of exponential growth. India's artificial intelligence market stood at USD 6.8 billion in 2024 and is expected to quadruple by 2032, according to GMI Research. With a projected CAGR of 19.2 per cent, the country is witnessing rapid AI adoption across sectors. Powering this is a booming startup ecosystem, the Indian government's ambitious IndiaAI Mission, and a sharp rise in intangible investments that now account for nearly 10 per cent of India's GDP. That puts India ahead of several EU nations and even Japan.

But behind this momentum lies an unsettling question: are we racing toward a future that may leave its people behind?

For Khadim Batti, CEO and Co-founder of Whatfix, the answer begins with people. "We don't see AI as just another tool. For us, it's a catalyst to reimagine how humans and software interact," he says.

Batti champions a "userization" philosophy, an approach where technology adapts to human needs rather than forcing users to conform to systems.

On the other hand, the rise of AI-powered coding assistants is fuelling anxiety.

India boasts one of the world's largest pools of software talent, with over 17 million developers on GitHub, a number expected to surpass the U.S. by 2027. For many young Indians, coding is more than a job, it's a pathway to global relevance and financial independence.

But that path is being disrupted. Cognition AI's recent acquisition of Windsurf (formerly Codeium) is a clear signal: AI isn't just helping coders, it's starting to replace them.

When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns,"AI will soon replace most programming jobs," it sets off alarm bells. Schmidt points to the rapid advancement of self-improving systems. In cutting-edge AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, he notes, AI is already writing 10–20 per cent of the code.

That kind of disruption feels personal.

Yet not everyone sees it as a threat. Kanakalata Narayanan, VP of AI/ML Engineering at Ascendion, offers a different lens. "There's always a human in the loop validating and steering outcomes," she says. She likens AI to a junior developer, one who summarises information, accelerates documentation, and automates repetitive tasks.

But she's quick to note that domain expertise and critical thinking remain irreplaceable. "It's a co-pilot, not an autopilot."

Security blind spots in a machine-first world

As AI agents become more autonomous and embedded into critical infrastructure, the conversation around identity security is heating up. According to Sumit Srivastava of CyberArk, machine identities in Indian enterprises now outnumber human identities by 82 to 1. And with the rise of agentic AI, AI that can make independent decisions and these identities are becoming the newest cybersecurity risk vector.

"Securing machine identities is no longer optional," says Srivastava, urging enterprises to build AI-powered identity frameworks. The stakes are particularly high for sectors like BFSI and manufacturing, where automation intersects directly with sensitive data and national infrastructure.

While much of the AI discourse celebrates speed and scale, the ethical dimension remains unresolved. As Equinix India's MD Manoj Paul points out, explainability, user consent, and fairness need to be foundational, not afterthoughts. "These are values that, when built from day one, give businesses long-term credibility and resilience," he concludes.