2 days ago
Engineers must now think like CEOs, OpenAI's Srinivas Narayanan at IIT-M alumni event
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BENGALURU: In the age of artificial intelligence, software engineers must evolve into decision-makers with CEO-like vision, said OpenAI's VP of Engineering Srinivas Narayanan, speaking at the IIT Madras Alumni Association's Sangam 2025 conference on Saturday.
'The job is shifting from just writing code to asking the right questions and defining the 'what' and 'why' of a problem. AI can already handle much of the 'how,'' Narayanan said, urging developers to focus on purpose and ambition over executional detail.
Joining him on stage, Microsoft's Chief Product Officer Aparna Chennapragada warned that simply retrofitting AI onto legacy tools won't be enough. 'AI isn't a feature you can just add on.
We need to start building with an AI-first mindset,' she said, pointing to how natural language interfaces are replacing traditional UX layers.
The panel, moderated by IITMAA President and Unimity CEO Shyamala Rajaram, explored AI's impact on jobs, product design, safety, and education. Chennapragada said the future belongs to those who combine deep expertise with generalist flexibility. 'Prompt sets are the new PRDs,' she quipped, referring to how product teams now work closely with models to prototype faster and smarter.
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Narayanan shared that OpenAI's models are already being used in medical diagnostics, citing a case where a reasoning model identified rare genetic disorders at a Berkeley-linked research lab. 'The potential of AI as a collaborator, even in research, is enormous,' he said.
On risks, Narayanan acknowledged challenges such as misinformation, unsafe outputs, and misuse. He noted that OpenAI recently rolled back a model for exhibiting 'psychopathic' traits during testing, highlighting the company's iterative deployment philosophy.
Both speakers stressed accessibility and scale. While Chennapragada called for broader 'CS + AI' fluency, Narayanan said model costs have dropped 100-fold over two years. 'We want to democratise intelligence,' he said.
Chennapragada closed with a thought: 'In a world where intelligence is no longer the gatekeeper, the real differentiators will be ambition and agency.'
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