D

D

Daimler, 145

DALL-E/Dall-E 2, 55, 57

Dartmouth Summer Research Project, 45

data-information-knowledge-wisdom quartet, 204

data management systems and databases, 27

data privacy, 32

De Beers Diamond Experience, 104

Decentralised Finance (DeFi) Systems, 124

Deep Blue supercomputer, 43, 51

deepfake proliferation, 60

deep learning, 44, 53

DeepMind, 64–65

DeepSeek, 204, 233

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 49

De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Andreas Vesalius), 163

design aesthetics, 16

Dick Smith Electronics, 19–20

digital business models, 221

digital economy, 29

Digital Equipment Corporation, 49

digitally native manufacturing, 189–191
objectives of digitally native plants, 190–191

digital systems, 15

digital transformations, 16, 25, 69, 184–185, 192
AI-based applications, 40
automation in workplaces, 28–30, 38
of business, 26
data boom, 38–41
dynamic ecosystem, 70
integration of AI with predictive analytics, 41–42
role of computers, 26–28

digital twins, 38, 146, 169, 182–184

Disney, 221

distributed autonomous systems (DAS), 188–189

Domino’s Pizza, 104, 107

dot-com bubble, 30

Dragon Systems, 51

drug design and discovery process, 61, 74

dual intelligence, 204, 230, 231, 234, 236

E

Eaton’s, 20
eBay, 100, 224
Edge AI solutions, 224
education models, AI-led, 199–201
Edwards, Dean, 44
ELIZA, 46, 50
email systems, 27
emotional intelligence, 214
enterprise twin, 183–184
entertainment, AI impact on, 207–210
content dissemination and distribution, 208
use of AR and VR, 208
entrepreneurship, AI impact on, 212–214
EU AI act, 82
ExpanseWorks, 166
Expedia, 85, 225
expert systems, 46, 53

F

Facebook, 30, 31, 33, 34, 209, 221
family-run enterprises, 11
Fan Hui, 53
FANUC Robotics, 145
feedback loop, 70
feudalism, 7
feudal systems, 10
Fifth Generation Computer Systems initiative, Japan, 49
financial crisis of 2008, 119
financial literacy and inclusion, 77
First Industrial Revolution and leadership patterns, 10–12
First World War, 6
Flickr, 221
Ford, Henry, 13, 228
Foxconn, 144
fraud detection and customer protection, 107–108

G

Gaikwad, Ashish, 197
‘game-changing’ AI, 225–228
Gandhi, Mahatma, 5, 6, 7, 8, 231
Ganesh, Uma, 207, 217, 228
Gap Inc., 100
Gartner, 33
Gates, Bill, 16, 63
GE Aviation, 146
Gemini, 66
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), 40
General Electric, 141, 144, 221
Generative AI (GenAI), 54–55, 56, 57, 58–69, 165–166, 187, 218–219, 224, 225, 228, 236
agentic workflows and, 75
in Banking and Financial Services industries, 76–77
based avatar, 77
copilots, 70–73, 75, 77–78, 80
in customer service function, 78
in drug design and discovery process, 61, 74, 168
engines, 41
for enhancing efficiency, 73–75
ethics, safety and responsibility, 80–82
healthcare industry and, 73–74
in HR functions, 77
impacts on human tasks, 62–63
innovative power of, 72–73
manufacturing industry and, 74–76
in marketing functions, 78–79
natural language interface of, 70–71
in patient–clinician interactions, 73
for product development, 75–76
in recruitment process, 77
for re-imagining business processes, 73–75
for retrieving information, 75
risks of, 80–81
for societal impact, 79–80
generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), 56
Ginkgo Bioworks, 164
Go Games, 53
Goldman Sachs, 121
Google, 16, 32, 53, 120, 144, 149, 209, 221
DeepMind Health, 207
Gemini, 41
Home, 104
Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), 58
Search Labs (Google X), 52
GPT-3, 55
GPT-4, 55
graphical user interfaces (GUIs), 26
Greek mythology, 2
green-field manufacturing facility, 191
Groww, 122
GTT Data Solutions, 204

H

Harari, Yuval Noah, 199, 209–210, 214, 217–218, 229
Harrods, 99
Hastings, Reed, 23
HBX, 200
HDFC Bank, 121
healthcare industry, 73–74
preventive care and diagnosis, 205–206
primary, secondary and healthcare systems, 205
role of AI, 205–207
Hilton Honors, 106
Hindalco, 145
Hinton, Geoffrey, 53, 61, 234
Hitler, Adolf, 6
H&M, 100, 105
HMT Watches, 18
Hoffman, Reid, 56
Holiday Inn, 85
Hollingbery, George, 20
Holmes, Elizabeth, 24
Honeywell, 144, 146
hospitality industry, 85–86, 225
AI-led cybersecurity, 90
AI-led integrated event management systems, 90–91
AI-led operations management, 89
AI-led resource management, 87–88
AI-powered robots for routine tasks, 88
changing roles and tasks in, 91–98
dynamic pricing models, 87
face recognition techniques, 88–89
human–AI partnership, 91
predictive analytics, 87
use of AR and VR technologies, 89
virtual assistants, 86–87
Houzz, 104
Howard Johnson, 85
HR functions, 77
Huang, Jensen, 64

I

Ibex AI, 167
IBM, 21, 22, 30, 43, 44, 45, 49, 51, 53, 54, 74, 149
Accelerated Discovery initiative, 74
Watson Health systems, 207
ICICI Bank, 120
The Iliad, 2
Imitation Game, 44
imperialism, 7
Indian jute industry, 18
Indian-language AI models, 62
Indian manufacturing sector, 192–193
GDP share, 193
incentives for, 193
MSME sector, 194–196
National Manufacturing Policy, 193
role of automation, 193–194
Indian pharma industry, 165
Indian software industry, 29–30
India’s Aakash Tablet, 24
India’s pharma R&D employment, 169
The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), 212
industrial automation, 191–194
industrial cybersecurity, 185–187
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), 37–38, 143, 179, 180, 184–185
based digital transformation, 185
Indus Valley civilisation, 117
Information Age and leadership patterns, 15–17
Infosys, 56
‘infrastructure as a service’ (IaaS), 37
Instagram, 31, 33
insurance underwriting, 76
Intel, 142
Pentium chip, 26
intellectual capital, 16
intelligent inventory replenishments, 106
intelligent process automation (IPA), 189
Intelligent Retail Lab, 134
International Monetary Fund, 118
Internet of Things (IoT), 37, 41, 144, 169
enabled smart shelves, 106
Intuit, 30
ITC Hotels, 86, 105
IT industry, 26, 29
IT infrastructure and servers, 35, 36

J

Jainism, 5
Jobs, Steve, 16, 23, 228
J.P.

Morgan, 14
JSW Steel, 145

K

Kamaraj, K., 9
Kantar Media, 209
kar seva (selfless service), 9
Kasparov, Garry, 43, 51
Kennedy, Jack, 231
Khan, Genghis, 3
Khan Academy’s Khan Migo, 79
King, Martin Luther, 6, 231
Klarna, 62
Kodak, 21, 141
Krishna, Arvind, 22
KUKA Robotics, 145

L

‘lab-in-the-loop’ system, 168
Lancashire textile industry, 18
large language models (LLMs), 42, 65–66, 204, 206, 219, 222, 233, 236
leaders
assessment of dimensions, 1–2
based on philosophical or religious guidance, 4
in BFSI, 224
of businesses and communities, 1
Greek mythological heroes, 2
historical perspective of, 2–9
of Roman Empire, 2–3
leadership patterns/styles, 228–229, 238
blend of social reformation with business economics, 12
centralised and authoritarian, 13
centralised control and market dominance, 14
in context of AI-driven era, 24
factors influencing styles, 22–24
feudal systems and rule by fear, 10
First Industrial Revolution, 10–12
guild-based, 10
impact of technology interventions, 17–22
Information Age, 15–17
paternalistic leadership style, 12
popes, priests, mullahs, gurus, maharajas and emperors, 10
Second Industrial Revolution, 12–14
as task masters, 11
LeCun, Yann, 65
Lenin, Vladimir, 228, 229
Liebig, Justus von, 163
life expectancy, 204–205
life sciences industry, 161–162
digital adoption in healthcare companies, 164–165
early foundations of, 163–164
evolution of, 162–163
founding of biotech companies, 164
key discoveries, 163–164
leadership imperatives for, 175–177
regulatory changes and ethical concerns, 167
role of AI and machine learning, 165–169
talent requirements for AI era, 170–174
LinkedIn, 31, 33–34, 56
LISP (list processing), 46, 49
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 11–12
Livingston, Jessica, 56
Llama, 57–58
local area networks (LANs), 28
L’Oreal, 104
Louis Vuitton, 104
Lowell Textile Mills, 141
loyalty programmes, AI-led, 86–87, 106–107, 224, 225
L&T, 143
Lyft, 21

M

machine learning, 39, 44, 45, 47, 51, 52–56, 187–189, 220, 222, 230
Macy’s, 99, 100
Mahabharata, 3
Mahaprabhu, Chaitanya, 6
Mahindra & Mahindra, 145
mail order business, 101–102
Make My Trip, 225
Mandela, Nelson, 6
manufacturing facility twin, 183
manufacturing industry, 74–76, 137–138
in AI era, 147–150
AI technology solutions in, 143–147
cottage industries, 141
customised manufacturing, 148
energy management and sustainability goals, 146
Fifth Industrial Revolution, 140
First Industrial Revolution (1760–1840), 138
flexibility in production centres, 147–148
Fourth Industrial Revolution, 139–140, 144
guilds, 141
home-based production centres, 141
leadership imperatives for, 158–161
progress toward Industry 5.0, 149–150
quantum computing, 149
real-time preventive maintenance actions, 149
Second Industrial Revolution (1870–1914), 138–139, 141, 178
skill development, 148–149
sustainability-centric production, 148
talent requirements for AI era, 150–157
Third Industrial Revolution, 139
use of robots in factories, 145–146
workers’ safety, 148
market capitalisation, 21
marketing functions, 78–79
Marriott, 85
Maruti Suzuki, 143
Mastercard, 123
matrix organisation structure, 15
McCarthy, John, 46
McDermott, John, 49
McKinsey Report, 144
McMillon, Doug, 134
Medieval European guild leaders, 10
Meena, Satish, 134
Merck, 164
Meta, 57–58, 66
metaverse-related technologies, 123, 179
Microsoft, 16, 19, 27, 51, 53, 56, 57, 58, 82, 149
Azure, 30, 31, 33, 105
Health Bots, 207
Teams, 33, 40
Windows, 26
Minsky, Marvin, 44
Mobikwik, 124
mobility, AI impact on, 207–210, 210–212
automatic ride and guidance, 212
Moderna, 165
Modi, Narendra, 228
money-lending practices, 118
MOTION CoE, 210–211
Motorola, 142
MSME sector, India, 194–196
MS Word program, 27
Muhammad’s (Prophet) leadership model, 5
multimodal AI, 64
Musk, Elon, 23, 56, 66
Myspace, 31

N

Nadella, Satya, 60
Nanak, Guru, 4
principles of equality, 9
NantWorks, 166
Narayanan, Suresh, 225, 226
Natarajan, Ganesh, 199–200, 206–207, 211, 214, 217, 228
National Institute of Standards and Technology AI Risk Management Framework, 81
natural language processing (NLP), 39, 46, 50, 144
NaturallySpeaking 1.0, 51
Nazi propaganda, 6
Nehru, Jawaharlal, 228
NESTGPT, 226
Nestle India, 226
Netflix, 20, 23, 34, 36, 51, 221
New Balance, 146
New Lanark Mills, 12
Nexus, 199
Nielsen, 209
Nike, 145, 146
Nokia, 20, 142
Novartis, 166
NVIDIA, 144
Nvidia, 142, 219

O

The Odyssey, 2
Ola, 21
online retailers, 19
Onyx, 123
OpenAI, 56–57, 58, 218–219
Codex, 71
GPT (ChatGPT), 41, 57, 58, 66
Oracle, 21
Owen, Robert, 12
Oyo, 86

P

Page, Larry, 16
PandaOmics, 166
Paramahamsa, Swami Ramakrishna, 7
Parametric Technology Corporation, 144
Parke Davis, 164
Pasteur, Louis, 163
pathology, 167
patriarchal leadership, 10
pay-as-you-go cloud storage service, 31
Paytm, 119–120
people workflow automation, 181–182
personal digital assistant (PDA), 31
personalised recommendation systems, 103–104
Pfizer, 165, 166
Pichai, Sundar, 60
Pinterest, 31
plant machinery and equipment automation, 181–182
process automation, 181–182
process twin, 183
Procter & Gamble, 145
Proteomica, 166
Pullman, George, 13

Q

Quit India Movement, 8

R

Ramanuja, 5–6
promotion of vernacular language, 5
Ramayana, 3
Reagan, Ronald, 231
Reddit, 31
Red Hat OpenShift, 22
relationships, AI impact on, 214–217
retail industry, 99–101
AI applications in, 102–116
conversational AI, 104
department stores, 99
discount stores, 99
exclusive stores, 99
fraud detection and customer protection, 107–108
future of AI in, 108
loyalty programmes, AI-led, 106–107
personalised recommendation systems, 103–104
shopping experience, AI-based, 102–103
smart inventory management, 106
specialised retail chains, 100
store-branded products, 99
talent requirements, 108–116
use of AR and VR technologies, 101, 104–105
return on investments (ROI), 32
robotic girl, AI-embedded, 198
robotic process automation (RPA), 46, 48, 50, 55, 120, 220
robotics-as-a-service (RaaS), 147
Rochester, Nathaniel, 45
Rockefeller, John D., 14
Rockefeller Foundation, 14
Rohingya community, 210
Roman Empire, 2–3, 17
Rometty, Ginny, 22
Rothamsted Experimental Station, England, 163
R1 system, 49
rules-based programming, 188
Rupifi, 124

S

SaaS, 32, 37
Samsung, 20–21
Galaxy Note 7, 23
Samuel, Arthur, 44
Samuel Checkers-Playing Program, 44
Scheinman, Victor, 48
Schneider Electric, 146
Sears Roebuck, 19–20, 84

100, 101 Seasons Hotels, 134 Second Industrial Revolution and leadership patterns, 12–14 Second World War, 15, 18 Securities and Exchange Commission, 118 security systems, AI-led, 107 self-driven cars, 211 Sephora’s Virtual Artist, 105 service industry, 85 customer, 61 leadership imperatives for, 134–136 Shankaracharya, Adi, 8 establishment of mathas, 5 Vedic philosophy, 5 Shannon, Claude, 45 Sharp, Isadore, 134 Shivaji, Maharaj, 7, 10 guerrilla warfare, 4 shopping experience, AI-based, 102–103 Siemens, 143, 144, 145, 146, 221, 224 Siemens Healthineers, 167 Sikhism, 4 Sinclair, Clive, 24 Singh, Manmohan, 228 Singhel, Tapan, 225–226, 227 Skills Alpha, 201–202, 223 skills development, AI-based, 201–204 Slack, 33 small language models (SLMs), 66 Small Quality Inspection system, 144 smart edge-to-cloud architecture, 191 Smart Insights (SI), 143 smart inventory management, 106 smartphones, 31 Smith-Corona, 19 Smith Kline, 164 social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) computing, 31–36 social media platforms, 30–31 society and civilisation, AI impact on, 217–219 Softbank, 119–120 Spotify, 36 Squibb, 164 Sravathi AI, 166 Srivathsa, Rohini, 83 Stability AI, 58 Stalin, Joseph, 6 Starbucks Rewards, 107 ‘Startup India Standup India,’ 212 start-ups, 30 Start up Village Entrepreneurship Programme, 212 State Bank of India, 118, 224 chatbot system, 120 Stephenson, George, 11 Suleyman, Mustafa, 64 Sun Microsystems, 21 Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, 196 surveillance systems, AI-powered, 107 Svadharma (one’s path), 3 Swadeshi Movement, 8 synthetic intelligence, 45 T Taare Zameen Par, 199 Taj Hotels, 86 Target, 19, 24, 99–100, 107 Redcard, 104 Target Canada, 24 Tata Steel, 144 Tata Tea, 105 Taylor, Frederick, 13 technology innovation, 23 technology interventions, impact on leadership patterns, 17–22 Tesla, 104, 145 text-to-image generative AI tool, 79 Theranos, 23–24 Thermo Fisher, 175 Thiel, Peter, 56 Thomas Cook, 84, 225 Tiffany & Co, 104 Tommy Hilfiger, 105 Toys R Us, 84, 100 Trident Hotels, 86 Twitter (now X), 30, 31, 34 U Uber, 21, 36, 221 UBS, 122 Ulta Beauty’s Virtual Try-On, 105 Underwood, 19 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), 15 United States of America, 15, 19, 44, 45, 47–49, 52, 99, 100, 118, 119, 141, 164, 205, 207, 213 Universal Robotics, 145 University of Chicago, 14 UPI, 123–124 user experience (UX), 16 V Vaishnavism, 5 Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 14 Vgenomics, 166 Viacom, 20 Visa, 123 Vivekananda, Swami, 6, 9, 238 W Wallace, Richard, 50 Walmart, 19, 99–100, 101, 107, 134 Easy Reorder, 104 warrior kings, 2 Watson, Thomas J., 22 Watsonx AI platform, 22 Watt, James, 11 Web3, 105 Weizenbaum, Joseph, 50 Western Union, 141 WhatsApp, 35, 58 Williams-Sonoma, 104 work, in modern age, 69 Work Trend Annual Report, 2025, 82 World Bank, 118 World Economic Forum, 144 X XCON, 49 Y YC Research, 56 Y2K bug, 29, 51 YouTube, 30, 31 Z Zara, 100 Zavvi, 20 Zedong, Mao, 6–7 Zhima Credit (Sesame Credit), 122 Zoom, 35, 40 Zymergen, 164

About the Authors

Dr Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5F World, GTT Data Solutions Ltd, Honeywell Automation and Lighthouse Communities Foundation. He is also a Global Partner in Cornerstone Ventures, ICrowd and Arise Ventures. He has published fifteen books and is a regular speaker at national and international forums.

Dr Uma Ganesh is Chairperson of GTT Foundation and Board Director at Skills Alpha, 5F World and Emoha Health. Uma has co-founded 5F World and co-authored two books on knowledge management and digital success. Her entrepreneurial venture Global Talent Track attracted investment by Intel Capital, CISCO, Helion Ventures and SMCV, and was listed as GTT Data Solutions on the BSE. GTT and its digital platform, Skills Alpha, have so far impacted 1.2 million youth in the country.

Priyanka Sangani is a business journalist with over two decades of experience reporting for some of India’s most respected financial publications, including The Economic Times, Business Standard and Business Today. Her work reflects a deep curiosity about how technology is reshaping industries and impacting how we live, work and engage with the world around us in our everyday lives.