'Won't fire anyone because of AI', says Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath as he shares details about company's new policy

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) wave has gathered momentum. For some it has made life easier. Whereas, many believe that it can take away their jobs. Several tech companies around the world are conducting mass layoffs due to the economic slowdown and the rise of AI. But Zerodha CEO and Co-Founder Nithin Kamath has announced that his company will retain employees, even if AI makes some jobs redundant.

In a twitter thread, Kamath stated that Zerodha has created an ‘internal AI policy’ to give clarity to the employees in an environment of AI/job loss anxiety.

He said, “We will not fire anyone on the team just because we have implemented a new piece of technology that makes an earlier job redundant.”

Kamath claimed that AI is in a position to “take away jobs and disrupt society.”

In 2021, we’d said that we hadn’t found AI use cases when everyone was claiming to be powered by AI without any AI. With recent breakthroughs in AI, we finally think AI will take away jobs and can disrupt society. 2/8https://t.co/AzQFj6XRjT

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) May 12, 2023

“In today’s capitalism, businesses prioritize shareholder value creation above stakeholders like employees, customers, vendors, the country, & the planet. Markets incentivize business leaders to prioritize profits over everything else; if not, shareholders vote them out,” he noted.

Kamath also talked about layoffs, and said, “Many companies will likely let go of employees and blame it on AI. In the process, companies will earn more and make their shareholders wealthier, worsening wealth inequality. This isn’t a good outcome for humanity.”

Many companies will likely let go of employees and blame it on AI. In the process, companies will earn more and make their shareholders wealthier, worsening wealth inequality.

This isn’t a good outcome for humanity. 5/8

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) May 12, 2023

He believes that in future governments and countries might put up some regulations.

Concluding the twitter post, Kamath said that humans will witness the real impact of AI in the coming years. “Businesses with financial freedom should, if nothing else, give their teams that helped build the business time to adapt. I know some of this might sound weird coming from the CEO of a broking firm,” he said.

It’ll take a few years for us to see the real impact of AI on humanity.
Businesses with financial freedom should, if nothing else, give their teams that helped build the business time to adapt.

I know some of this might sound weird coming from the CEO of a broking firm.