SAP SE’s Indian arm hopes to double its stake in the German software giant’s patents and add 3,000 jobs a year as it focuses more on artificial intelligence, a top executive told Reuters on Thursday.
SAP Labs India Managing Director Sindhu Gangadharan hopes the Indian unit will scale up its share of global SAP patents to 50 percent from 25 percent currently, she said in an interview on the sidelines of an event in Bengaluru.
The company, which aims to double its AI talent base by 2024, expects “3,000 new employees to join the organization every year,” Gangadharan said, seeking to quell fears that the rise of the emerging technology could hurt job growth.
SAP Labs India, which employs over 15,000 people, aims to integrate generative AI into its products to better meet the evolving needs of its customers ranging from Thermax to Dabur India.
“Through AI, India can consolidate its IT supremacy,” Gangadharan had said at the event earlier in the day.
The comments come as SAP looks to “double down” on investments in India, its fastest growing region, where 40 percent of global research and development (R&D) takes place.
From banks to major tech companies, companies around the world have made strides in investing in AI following the massive success of ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
Referring to the regulation of AI, Gangadharan said there should be “a lot of accountability barriers with flexibility for the end user”.
Her comments come after ChatGPT creator Sam Altman called for self-regulation in June, as governments around the world race to regulate the use of AI tools.
© Thomson Reuters 2023