AI vs Jobs: What Hyderabad youth think about the future

On International Youth Day, the UN is focusing on a simple reality: Different Contexts, Common Aspirations

As the world marks International Youth Day on August 12, this year the United Nations is focusing on a simple reality: “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations.” Hyderabad is a city that embodies that contrast, where historic neighbourhoods sit alongside sprawling IT parks and young people are entering a workforce being rapidly reshaped by AI.

While global headlines warn of AI replacing entry-level workers, young Hyderabadis are asking a different question: what happens when we stop treating AI as a replacement and start treating it as a tool?

Machines fall short at judgement

In fields where human health and rights are at stake, young people see AI as a helpful tool, not a replacement for human decisions.

An 18-year-old MBBS student who chose to remain anonymous sees a clear limit to technology. AI can process vast amounts of medical information and diagnostic data far faster than a human can, but actual healthcare requires much more. “AI can never replace doctors. It is impossible,” she says. “Yes, it can probably remember more information than we ever could and help us diagnose things faster, but medicine is not only about knowing the answer. As students, we are learning that every patient is different, and sometimes what matters is noticing the small things, or simply understanding what the patient is going through.”

Similarly, 17-year-old aspiring lawyer Khadija sees both the good and bad of AI. On one hand, simple AI tools can explain complex laws in plain language, helping everyday people who cannot afford expensive legal advice. “If AI can make legal information easier to understand and more affordable, I think that could actually be a good thing,” Khadija tells Siasat.com. However, she remains firm on the limits of automation. “I would be nervous about letting AI make the final decision in a legal case. Even if it gets most things right, one mistake could affect someone’s freedom, money, or future,” she adds. “Lawyers will always be important, especially when there is a lot at stake.”

Moving from daily tasks to big strategy

In business and creative jobs, entry-level work is definitely shifting. But young people starting in finance and media view AI as a workplace helper rather than a threat to their careers.

Furqan Hussein, a 20-year-old B.Com Computers student preparing for his ACCA exams, treats AI as a daily partner. He knows software will soon handle basic bookkeeping and repetitive math, but understanding how a real business works still needs human insight. “Honestly, I don’t think AI will completely replace ACCA professionals. It can definitely make a lot of accounting work faster and easier, especially daily routine stuff,” Furqan says. “When it comes to understanding a business, making decisions, handling clients, and using professional judgment, I still think humans are needed because in business there should be a human touch.”

He believes the solution lies in learning to manage these tools rather than fighting them. “AI will give you a solution, but a human can think beyond that solution,” he notes. “We should learn how to manage AI in our work life, so AI handles small tasks and frees us up for bigger things.”

In digital media, 23-year-old social media manager Nida Khan points out an interesting problem: when everyone gets access to the same AI tools, standing out gets much harder. “I think AI will actually make social media management harder because everyone will have access to the same tools,” she explains. “If anyone can generate a good-looking post or video in seconds, the challenge will be standing out. The people who understand audiences and can come up with genuinely different ideas will become more valuable.”

She sees the job evolving rather than disappearing. “I don’t think social media managers will disappear, but I think the job they do in ten years could be very different. AI might handle the scheduling, captions, and analytics, while the human side becomes more about strategy, creativity, and deciding what a brand should actually say.”

What does AI cost us?

Looking beyond their own careers, some young people in Hyderabad are pointing out the hidden physical and social costs of the AI industry.

Musaib Hussein, a 23-year-old researcher and documentary filmmaker, challenges the mainstream hype around smart software. “Honestly, I don’t buy into this AI hype and the general mood among my colleagues is the same. To me, AI is neither artificial nor intelligent but rather a historically continuous yet technologically novel form of colonial power,” Musaib states. “The ratio of jobs created compared to the billions invested is incredibly low, enriching only a tiny tech elite and leading to wage stagnation.”

He also points out that AI is not an invisible, weightless system. “People talk about AI as if it’s some invisible magic in the cloud, but how many of us know that AI heavily drains environmental resources through massive data center water usage?” he asks. “These facilities require fresh water, yet nearly 600 million Indians live in areas lacking freshwater and face high to extreme water shortages. I don’t think AI will take our jobs because it’s too damn extractive and we’re too damn exhausted.”