“Expertise has just one function, and that’s human enablement, nothing else,” stated Neeti Shukla, co-founder and chief social affect officer at Automation Anyplace. Synthetic intelligence (AI) is quickly redefining industries and the best way we work. This makes questions of its broader implications inevitable.
A lot of the discourse right now revolves round financial disruption and job losses; there are folks and organisations which are exploring new methods AI may help in addressing social challenges.
Shukla represents one such method. Automation Anyplace has established what is called an ‘affect workplace’ to deal with utilizing AI and automation applied sciences for social good.
Defining AI for good
In the course of the dialog, when requested what ‘AI for good’ actually means, Shukla provided an easy framework. “When you take a look at it from that lens (enablement) – that we’re enabling people to do extra, to do higher, to do it simpler, in no matter capability – then after we take a look at AI for good, it’s how can we serve a bigger inhabitants, humanity, and group higher by utilising AI?”
Not like conventional company social duty programmes that always function individually from core enterprise features, Shukla’s method integrates social affect immediately with technological experience. In accordance with her, this philosophy interprets into three most important areas of focus for her organisation’s social affect initiatives – bringing AI and automation to nonprofits, workforce reskilling and upskilling, and group give-back programmes.
Shukla shared that the corporate’s work with Akshaya Patra, a nonprofit that serves 2.4 million college lunches each day in India, illustrates their method to working with mission-driven organisations. As an alternative of merely offering free software program licences, Automation Anyplace has helped automate numerous operational processes. These embrace donor reconciliation, fleet administration, and vendor coordination.
“If you’re sourcing greens from 100 distributors for 70 kitchens, there’s certain to be inefficiencies; there’s certain to be last-minute wants,” Shukla famous. “Expertise could be a nice companion to the human supply mechanism.”
In accordance with her, this partnership extends past fast effectivity features. Akshaya Patra has set a aim to serve 5 million meals each day inside 5 years, and Shukla describes their function as serving to them to establish what programs and processes have to be in place to attain that scale.
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The reskilling problem
One of the vital advanced components of AI’s social affect entails upskilling the workforce or managing them by way of the transition section. Whereas acknowledging the dimensions of change forward, Shukla stated, “The revolution that we’re seeing in the best way we work, the best way corporations work, and the best way folks work is simply transformative. I believe most likely across the World Battle II period, after which after that, we haven’t seen this degree of change that may have an effect on nearly everyone in some capability.”
To handle challenges round upskilling, Shukla shared that the corporate has made its coaching curriculum and a group version of its software program accessible totally free. The corporate reportedly skilled roughly 40,000 folks by way of social affect programmes and works with 120 faculties in India by way of educational partnerships.
“We work with social companions which have a dedication to ship on-the-ground coaching for tech,” Shukla defined. “The rationale that is essential is should you take people who will not be a part of the mainstream training… then you actually need slightly bit extra hand-holding.”
India as a take a look at case
India presents distinctive alternatives for AI-driven social affect, in line with Shukla. “India is a superb use case of how the inhabitants has met the calls for of that day,” she noticed, citing the success of the outsourcing trade and enhancements in literacy charges.
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The main target contains partnerships with organisations like Farmers to Forests, which makes use of drone expertise to enhance tree sapling survival charges, and Navjyoti, which gives entrepreneurship and monetary literacy coaching to ladies.
“If we’re in a position to assist reskill and upskill the workforce in India… then they’ll really give skill-based companies versus simply guide companies,” Shukla stated.
With speedy progress in AI and different applied sciences, apprehension over job safety persists. Although Shukla acknowledges this actuality, she firmly believes in sustaining a long-term optimistic outlook. “The World Financial Discussion board had a job report that got here out in 2025 that stated net-net, we are going to create 2 billion extra jobs due to these applied sciences,” she acknowledged.
Nevertheless, Shukla emphasised that managing the transition interval is essential: “If we’re in a position to upskill our personal workforces inside our personal corporations, then there’s much less probability of layoffs. Bear in mind, these staff are material specialists… Their expertise may be very precious. The query is the ability set.”
On constructing belief
On the subject of implementing AI options in grassroots organisations, fostering belief is paramount, contemplating the skepticism round new applied sciences. Shukla describes their method as a partnership. “We actually cope with them as a companion, not a buyer,” she explains.
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“Not solely will we share the product and greatest practices, and we present up for volunteering, however even our companion ecosystem will step in, and we’ll ask for professional bono hours, and we’ll ask for mentors.”
The corporate’s current ESG report signifies that it has impacted 500,000 folks to this point by way of numerous initiatives. For Shukla, this represents the core worth of their work. “As a tech firm, I’ve seen how expertise has remodeled each trade round us. After I see that it has remodeled the lives of people, to me, that’s price gold.”
When requested what her recommendation can be for younger changemakers enthusiastic about AI’s social purposes, Shukla provided this angle: “The long run belongs to them. They may outline it. They may form it. Utilizing expertise will not be elective on this world now – it’s a requirement.”
As AI continues to evolve and combine into numerous sectors, approaches like these symbolize one mannequin for the way expertise corporations would possibly stability innovation with social duty. Whether or not such initiatives can successfully handle the broader challenges of technological disruption stays an ongoing query, however they provide concrete examples of how AI may be directed towards social profit relatively than purely business ends.