In December 2025 I had created and published an AI Sentiment meter in India. This was a simple assignment of weights to the headlines on AI carried in ET, Mint, HT and TOI. I chose these as the leading reflectors of business, policy and investment climate. You could choose another set if you prefer.
All headlines that mentioned job loss were assigned a weight of -5 ; all those that had job gains +5 ; all those that had efficiency and social gains were +3 , while all those that carried news on government control and support for AI use, were +3. The period I chose for analysis was March to May 2026.
The result is this - the net score is -35, with 11 negative headlines and 6 positives. there were some spikes with news of big-ticket AI data centres investment, but for the majority of people whom these papers reach, this is news that won't directly impact them, and if it does, not in the mass scale that India needs.
There seems to be a clear anxiety in India on the job loss, actual and potential, due to AI and its adoption. As a nation, we are still at a stage where job and job losses can cause considerable social and economic friction, which would negate to some extent industrial efficiency gains. After all, if your consumers can't buy, how much will your efficiency help?
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| AI Sentiment Meter March- May 2026. Based on headlines on AI in ET, Mint, TOI and HT. |
That said, there is excitement on AI - and new jobs and roles will be created- but how fast and how many? Clearly, a tech that is predicament on efficiency cant crearte a billion jobs.
If I were the government, I would be walking a tightrope. I want industry and India to grow fast, but I cannot risk social, economic and eventually political losses!
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