AI is an enabler, not a job threat – HP’s Surjoodeen says

The transition into the era of artificial intelligence (AI) is an effort to improve work efficiency, delivery, and productivity, not necessarily job displacement, says Yesh Surjoodeen, managing director for Southern and Central Africa at HP.

Speaking to journalists recently, Surjoodeen emphasised that AI empowers humans with opportunities to manage strategic tasks and routine operations while boosting productivity levels.

However, despite growing concerns that AI could lead to widespread job losses, Surjoodeen clarified that the goal is not work force displacement. “AI is about augmenting human potential and making roles more effective, not replacing them,” he explained.

“The purpose of using AI solutions is to enhance human potential — what people can do and how best they can do it,” he said.

Surjoodeen reiterated the importance of AI in optimising and automating work processes to make them seamless while maintaining efficiency and increasing output.

He revealed that HP has made efforts and developed solutions to ensure AI assists with smarter, quicker, and more stringent threat detection technology, offering better protection for remote and hybrid workers.

Surjoodeen also noted that AI helps improve business scalability and security. “The AI security features we have in HP devices are about ensuring and accelerating protection layers,” he said.

“HP’s AI devices are designed to grow with businesses, providing long-term value.”

When asked how HP’s AI-integrated laptops could enhance education and healthcare systems in Nigeria, he highlighted the company’s creation of learning tools to improve students’ experiences. He described the device as “far more intuitive,” helping to create solutions and empower learners to “create their own future.”

On the healthcare front, Surjoodeen acknowledged that while Nigeria has a large population, “infrastructure maturity” varies across regions. AI-based healthcare solutions, he said, could play a crucial role.

“AI laptops with AI capability solution sets can help many institutions start creating their own solutions, inspiring the Nigerian population to build AI-based innovations,” he explained.

“With AI-enabled hardware, healthcare solutions can be brought directly to those who need them most, as these devices are now far more capable, protective, and intuitive, supporting quick diagnosis and effective response,” he concluded.