The next decade could see artificial intelligence move beyond its current role as a tool that responds to human instructions to become a vast workforce of autonomous agents, capable of carrying out tasks and interacting with businesses on behalf of individuals, futurist Mike Walsh said at the NDTV World Summit 2026 today.
Mike Walsh is an internationally recognised futurist who advises leaders on how organisations can use emerging technologies to reinvent themselves.
And of course, the irony is that for many young Indians today, they may actually hire their first digital employee even before they get their first job. The funny thing is, a lot of the way we talk about AI today comes from a place of scarcity,” he added. “Somewhere right now in India there is an incredibly bright teenager staring at a screen. On one window there is an offer letter from a very prestigious university for a degree in computer science. She and her parents have been working for years for this. It’s gonna take four years; it is going to cost an extraordinary amount of money. “On the other screen is another world. There’s a swarm of AI agents now helping her put together a new small software company. It’s writing the business plan, it’s setting up a prototype, it’s already contacting potential clients. Two very different worlds.
“These systems will enable AI agents to make low-value payments without requiring user approval every time, laying the foundation for an entire ecosystem of autonomous personal AI,” he added. And the other problem is, is that for many of the courses, use of AI may even cause some kind of academic punishment,” Walsh said.
