Naukri launches its ‘AI at Work: From Adoption to Readiness’ report alongside a special Workwise with Naukri episode featuring leaders from OpenAI India
New Delhi, 16 July 2026: As AI becomes an integral part of everyday work, the conversation is shifting from whether AI will change jobs to how prepared professionals and organizations are for this transformation. Marking World AI Day 2026, Naukri has partnered with OpenAI to explore this shift a special episode of Workwise with Naukri featuring leaders from OpenAI India. It has also released an AI readiness report which brings together insights from job descriptions, AI hiring trends, recruiter searches and professional polls to understand how AI is entering India’s work ecosystem.
Together, the report and podcast bring complementary perspectives to one of the biggest workplace shifts underway. While Naukri's report decodes AI adoption, hiring and workforce readiness through proprietary hiring data, recruiter search trends and professional surveys, the Workwise conversation with OpenAI explores how professionals can build AI fluency, develop future-ready skills and work more effectively with AI.
Naukri's AI at Work report
Complementing the podcast, Naukri's AI at Work: From Adoption to Readiness report brings together insights from professional surveys, job descriptions, recruiter searches and hiring trends to understand how AI is transforming India's world of work.
The findings suggest that while AI adoption is becoming mainstream, workforce readiness is still catching up. While 77% of professionals say they use AI at work at least sometimes, and 79%are either actively upskilling in AI or plan to begin learning soon, only 35% say their employer actively provides AI training,indicating that much of India's AI learning continues to be self-driven.
AI learning is also no longer limited to younger professionals. The report finds that 52% of professionals with over 16 years of experience are actively upskilling in AI, signalling that AI readiness is becoming a leadership priority as well.
The report also highlights how rapidly AI has become a hiring requirement. AI mentions in technology job descriptions have grown nearly 17-fold since 2020,from 0.9% in 2020 to 15% in 2026,showing that technology roles are increasingly becoming AI-native.
Beyond adoption, hiring trends suggest that AI hiring is moving up the value chain. Year-on-year AI hiring growth is strongest in senior experience bands and higher salary brackets, with 13–16 years' experience growing 39%, 16+ years growing 35%, ₹40–49 LPA roles growing 47%, and ₹50+ LPA roles growing 43%. AI roles have also witnessed significantly stronger salary growth than non-AI roles over the last four years, reinforcing the growing market premium for AI capabilities.
Recruiter searches on Naukri further suggest that companies are moving beyond generic AI talent. Increasingly, recruiters are looking for professionals who can build, deploy and manage AI, reflected in growing searches for roles such as AI Product Manager, AI Solution Architect, AI Automation Engineer, AI Platform Engineer, Agent Builder and AI Trainer.
OpenAI leaders on Workwise with Naukri
The special episode of Workwise with Naukrifeatures Raghav Gupta, Head of Education, India & APAC, OpenAI, and Vasundhara Mudgil, Head of Communications, India, OpenAI, in conversation with Naukri. The discussion addresses some of the most pressing questions professionals have today,from whether AI will impact jobs, to what AI fluency looks like, how professionals can work better with AI, and the skills that will matter most in an AI-enabled workplace.
Setting the context for the conversation, the episode highlights India's growing engagement with AI, with over 100 million people in India using ChatGPT every week.
Speaking about how work is evolving, Gupta explains that AI is increasingly taking over repetitive tasks, making uniquely human capabilities such as judgment, creativity and problem-solvingmore valuable than ever before. He emphasizes that the professionals who thrive in the years ahead will be those who learn to work alongside AI, rather than simply use it as a tool.
Mudgil highlights India's optimism towards AI adoption across individuals, startups and enterprises, adding that the next challenge is helping more people discover meaningful, practical ways to integrate AI into their everyday work.
The conversation also explores how tools such as ChatGPTand Codex can help professionals think, create and execute more effectively,from research and presentations to coding, interview preparation and workflow automation.
Sumeet Singh, Group CMO, Info Edge (India) Limited, said:
"AI is no longer a future trend,it is already reshaping how India works. It's showing up in job descriptions, hiring patterns, workplace tools and career decisions. The real question now is readiness. Are professionals building the right AI skills? Are organizations enabling their teams to use AI effectively? Through our AI at Work report and the Workwise episode featuring OpenAI India leaders, we're bringing together data and expert perspectives to help professionals and employers better understand this transformation."
The AI at Work: From Adoption to Readinessreport and the special Workwise with Naukri episode featuring leaders from OpenAI India are available on Naukri's official channels.
