Focus On Building AI-First Companies: Vijay Shekhar Sharma To Founders

Highlighting the “transformative power” of artificial intelligence (AI), Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma called on founders to build AI-first companies.

Speaking during the ‘Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit 2024’ on Tuesday (December 10), Sharma said, “If you are not building technology that replaces humans in workflows, your startup might not survive five years.” 

The Paytm founder said that all jobs currently being done by humans, physical or mental, will eventually be done by AI-powered machines.

He said AI would lead to automation of various roles from finance to operations.

The shift, he noted, will have a big impact on countries. For India, a country that thrived on its IT and software development workforce, the advent of AI could mean a fundamental rethinking of jobs. 

“The programming languages we’ve mastered may no longer matter. Instead, speaking a natural language like English could be all that’s required to interact with AI and get results,” Sharma said, referencing a recent conversation he had with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son.

“AI is knocking at the door. For some, it’s an opportunity; for others, it will feel like a tsunami,” he added. 

It is pertinent to mention that Paytm sacked hundreds of employees in December last year citing the increasing usage of AI-led automation. Sharma is a big believer in the power of AI, and said at Paytm’s annual general meeting that the company is fully committed to integrating AI in its core payments business.

Earlier this year, the fintech major also appointed its then CTO Manmeet Dhody as “AI Fellow” to drive its AI initiatives.

Paytm posted a net profit of INR 930 Cr in the second quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q2 FY25) as against a net loss of INR 292 Cr in the year-ago quarter, largely on the back of the sale of its entertainment and ticketing business to Zomato for INR 2,048 Cr.

After the regulatory crackdown by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Paytm Payments Bank earlier this year, Paytm has been on a selling spree this year as it looks to focus on its core payments business. After the sale of its ticketing vertical, the company recently sold  its stake in Japanese digital payments firm PayPay Corporation for INR 2,364 Cr ($279.19 Mn) to SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

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