Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran on Tuesday signalled a shift in hiring trend of the IT services industry, saying Tata Consultancy Services could eventually employ as many AI agents as human workers, reflecting the growing role of artificial intelligence in enterprise operations and client services.

“TCS is investing in building AI agents for internal operations, solution frameworks and client-specific work. The day is not very far when TCS will have an equal number of AI agents and AI workers as there are physical workers,” Chandrasekaran said at the company’s annual general meeting.

As of the fourth quarter of FY26, TCS had a workforce of 584,519 employees.

Responding to shareholder queries, Chandrasekaran indicated that the company’s hiring model would undergo a significant transition as AI takes over portions of work currently performed by humans.

“Going forward, we will not be continuing to hire the number of people that we used to hire. Certain portions of work in the current scheme of things will go to AI agents. That does not mean there are no future opportunities. Once the transition happens, the AI world will produce so many more opportunities, and there will be new talent that will be required,” he said.

He added that the broader technology industry would need to invest heavily in reskilling and AI capabilities to ensure workers remain employable in the evolving landscape.

AI opportunities

Chandrasekaran identified five opportunities that he believes will drive the next phase of enterprise AI adoption and create significant demand for technology services.

The first is the modernisation of core technology systems, as companies upgrade legacy infrastructure, fragmented data architectures and outdated applications to become AI-ready. He cited TCS’s work in consolidating multiple SAP systems for a global pharmaceutical company onto a unified cloud platform.

The second opportunity lies in redesigning business operations through AI, with organisations reimagining end-to-end processes across areas such as supply chains and customer engagement.

The third is AI governance and management. As AI agents become more autonomous, enterprises will need systems to train, monitor and govern them while ensuring compliance, security and cost efficiency.

Chandrasekaran described this as the “annuity business” of the AI era.

The fourth opportunity is sovereign AI, driven by governments and regulated industries seeking greater control over data, infrastructure and compliance.

TCS has already launched sovereign AI infrastructure offerings in India and Europe.

The fifth is physical AI, which integrates intelligent systems with factories, warehouses, vehicles and other real-world assets. Chandrasekaran said TCS is already deploying AI-powered robotic solutions for industrial operations.

At the company level, Chandrasekaran said TCS’s annualised AI revenue run rate stood at $2.4 billion in Q4FY26, growing at a compounded quarterly rate of 22.4 per cent.

Strict action

On the alleged sexual harassment case at the company’s Nashik unit, Chandrasekaran said the matter is sub judice.

“Any compliance failures, if procedural, will be beefed up, and if it is a mistake on the part of any associate, strict action will be taken,” he said.