AI Job Fears Misplaced, Focus Should Be On Re-Skilling Says Deloitte Global AI leader, Nitin Mittal

Speaking at the India Today AI Summit 2026, Nitin Mittal, Global AI Leader at Deloitte India, dismissed fears around AI-led job losses, saying “hype and fear have little to do with statistics.” Citing estimates from the World Economic Forum and LinkedIn, Mittal noted that 1.3 million net new AI jobs have been created globally over the past two years, including roles such as prompt engineers, AI validators, data annotators, smart grid managers and autonomous vehicle monitors. He argued that the AI boom is also driving large-scale employment through the construction of gigawatt data centres — generating demand across steel, aluminium, cabling, power infrastructure, energy systems and critical mineral supply chains. Mittal said the real challenge is not job displacement but re-skilling, calling for the creation of a “new-collar” workforce equipped for the AI-driven economy.