"For decades, tech companies have relied immensely on India's vast workforce, from entry-level call center jobs to software engineers and high-ranking managerial positions. But with the advent of advanced AI, which has been accompanied by employers greatly cutting back on hiring with the hopes of eventually automating tasks entirely, India's tech workers are having to cope with a vastly different reality in 2026."
"Complicating the picture is a lack of clear government data on the tragic deaths. While it's impossible to tell whether they are more prevalent among IT workers, experts told Rest of World that the mental health situation in the tech industry is nonetheless "very alarming.""
"The prospect of AI making their careers redundant is a major stressor, with tech workers facing a "huge uncertainty about their jobs," as Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur senior professor of computer science and engineering Jayanta Mukhopadhyay told Rest of World."
Advanced AI and widespread hiring cutbacks have transformed employment prospects for India's tech workforce by 2026. Long hours—often reaching 90-hour workweeks—combined with rising anxiety about automation have worsened mental-health outcomes and contributed to a wave of suicides among tech workers. Limited government data obscures the full scale and prevents clear attribution of causes. Entry-level positions face the highest risk of displacement as companies invest in AI to cut costs and replace roles such as customer-service representatives. Consulting and service-industry roles are particularly vulnerable compared with product-development jobs. Persistent graduate output further increases competition for fewer positions.
Read at Futurism
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