“We’re in an AI Gold Rush:” HP’s Ganesha Rasiah on Why Speed Is Everything

You’ve been following the AI news and you’ve heard the polarizing chatter about jobs. Will AI automate everything and leave humans without work? It’s a narrative that gets a lot of airtime but Ganesha Rasiah, Chief Strategy Officer at HP, thinks it misses the bigger picture.

In a recent interview, Rasiah pushed back against the fear-focused narrative. “What’s lost in this narrative is that there’s so much more productivity we’re going to unlock,” Rasiah said.

Instead of seeing a future where humans are obsolete, he sees one where AI handles the cumbersome, inefficient tasks we either don’t want to do or can’t justify doing. This will free people up to be more effective and powerful in their roles. “At the end of the day, it’s about a productivity unlock that benefits humans,” Rasiah said. “It is not to our detriment, in my opinion.”

Rasiah is optimistic but also candid about the intense pressure of the moment. He describes the current state of AI development as a “gold rush.” The hierarchy of who will dominate the market isn’t set yet and countless companies are all scrambling to find their footing.

Rasiah believes this is a time for active participation—investing, testing, building proofs of concept, and iterating with customers. It’s a period that rewards rapid movement and even rapid failure as long as it leads to learning what works. He thinks that over the next few months the key players will start to settle into their roles as new ecosystems form around them. HP, he says, will be one of them.