PUNE: “Set yourself up for success because this is a massive transition,” urged Mahesh Kumar Goyal, senior data and AI engineer at Google LLC. He was invited as keynote speaker for IEEE International Conference on Information Systems and Computer Networks (ISCON 2025), which was held online on September 5 to 6, 2025.Goyal cautioned students against ignoring the wave of AI transformation sweeping industries. Instead of merely hoping their work remains unaffected, he advised them to embrace it with curiosity and strategy. He said, “Learning how to prompt, steer, and evaluate AI is quickly becoming as essential as knowing how to use a spreadsheet was 20 years ago.”Sharing a practical approach, he suggested that students dedicate time to continuous learning, especially if they feel their jobs could be at risk in the future. Referring to the 70-20-10 framework, he explained how professionals can balance the present while preparing for what’s next. According to him, 70% of time should go into excelling in one’s current role while using AI to improve it, 20% should be spent building adjacent skills, and 10% should be invested in entirely new capabilities. He said, “The security of active income and benefits will still be there, but resilience comes only if you are aggressive in learning and investing in new skills.”Goyal also reminded students that AI is not here to replace human intelligence but to augment it. By automating routine tasks, it creates room for higher-value work that machines cannot replicate. He specifically pointed to the coming impact of autonomous AI agents, predicting they will soon manage entire data analytics workflows from discovery to insight generation. This shift, he explained, elevates the human role from technician to strategist. Drawing from his own career, he shared that though he now writes less code than before, his value as a professional has only increased. He said, “Perhaps I’m technically writing less code than I did ten years ago, but I’m more indispensable.”Highlighting the skills resistant to automation, Goyal emphasized systems thinking, ethical judgment, creative problem-solving, and relationship building. These, he noted, are the qualities that will differentiate professionals in an AI-driven future.His message to students was clear: the future belongs to those who can direct and steer AI responsibly, not to those who disconnect from it.Goyal also pointed out to the coming impact of autonomous AI agents, predicting they will soon manage entire data analytics workflows from discovery to insight generation. This shift, he explained, elevates the human role from technician to strategist.
