Overview
- Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, speaking Friday at a Harvard Kennedy School AI symposium, proposed a carbon credit–style 'People Credits' tax on AI firms to fund compensation for workers displaced by automation.
- He described AI as a double-edged sword and warned that entry-level hiring could shrink even if overall productivity increases.
- The state positioned the tax as an idea under study with no draft bill, tax rate, or enforcement method yet made public.
- Reddy outlined plans for Bharat Future City near Hyderabad with a dedicated AI City to host Global Capability Centres, which are in-house tech hubs for multinationals.
- He also pledged large-scale reskilling with global partners including Harvard and said Telangana will grow tourism, green energy, electric vehicles, and infrastructure to create jobs less exposed to automation, while industry groups cautioned the proposed tax could deter investment and be hard to administer at the state level.