India is leading the world’s AI workforce: Microsoft
Microsoft's Work Trend Index (WTI) 2026 has revealed that India leads the world in AI professionals, with nearly one in three professionals categorized as "Frontier Professionals." These advanced users deploy AI agents to manage complex, multi-step tasks and are reimagining how their teams work. This advantage is attributed to India's large workforce of 27 million developers on GitHub, coupled with a strong appetite for learning and building new skills.
The index also highlights that Indian AI users prioritize quality control, critical thinking, and responsibility for decision-making, which are the highest among the surveyed countries. Additionally, 78% of Indian respondents are creating work that was impossible a year ago, indicating the creation of new jobs and roles due to AI.
While there is a gap between leadership's AI alignment (44%) and workers' recognition of reinvention rewards (25%), the industry must focus on execution and adoption at scale to overcome this challenge.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
