Microsoft India CEO Puneet Chandok predicts India is becoming an “AI-first nation,” driven by digital colleagues, AI factories, and an outcome-based economy that replaces today’s inefficiency-driven models.
He argues intelligence will become abundant and accessible—“like plugging into a wall for 50 IQ points”—while urging continuous learning as the key to human relevance.
With Satya Nadella announcing Microsoft’s $17.5B AI investment in India, Chandok says the country is uniquely positioned to lead the global AI revolution.
If someone told you a decade ago that you could “plug yourself into a wall and gain 50 IQ points,” you would probably smile politely and wonder which science fiction story this is stolen from. But when Microsoft India & South Asia President Puneet Chandok says it on stage in New Delhi, confidently and emphatically and repeats it not once but thrice, it suddenly sounds less like fantasy and more like a trailer for the world ahead. He even jokes, ‘someone like him’ could really use those 50 IQ points.
This wasn’t just any stage either. The comment came during the Microsoft Leadership Summit, an event headlined by Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO. Nadella delivered the keynote, unveiling Microsoft’s evolving Copilot vision, its refreshed AI strategy, and a massive $17.5 billion investment aimed at supercharging India’s AI and cloud infrastructure.
Coming back to Chandok, he claims, “we are entering a new reality,” one ‘where Intelligence will move from a scarce commodity to something abundant and readily available’. His message felt part warning, part celebration and part gentle shove, urging everyone to keep moving forward. India, he insists, is not simply joining the AI revolution. “India is becoming an AI-first nation… India is doing it like nobody else.”
So will humans really be downloading IQ boosts from wall sockets in two years? To understand what he means, it’s worth stepping through Chandok’s energetic and occasionally mind-bending five-point prediction for India’s AI-powered leap.
1. “We are used to physical colleagues… but we will have digital colleagues now.”
Before anyone imagines robot interns staging a workplace coup, Chandok explained that these colleagues will be agents, AI systems with “perception, cognition, and agency.” They won’t behave like passive phone apps. They will think, respond and act on our behalf when permitted.
“Next-gen agents are going to work for you autonomously,” he said. In his vision, AI doesn’t stay confined to apps. It becomes a co-worker. A teammate who can analyse, summarise and execute decisions without fatigue. Ideally, one with no interest in stealing your lunch from the office fridge.
The real question then becomes: if AI can think and act beside us, what do humans do?
Chandok’s answer is optimistic. “AI should enhance human creativity rather than just automating tasks.”
2. The Next Generation of Indian Business Will Be Built on AI
In Chandok’s view, India isn’t cautiously testing AI. It is leaping in with both feet. He thinks AI was once a “top-down push” but globally, it is now a “bottom-up revolution.” Students, shop owners, founders, teachers and executives are adopting AI faster than many global observers expected.
He describes this as India’s shift to an “AI-first economy,” and he hinted that businesses refusing to adapt may soon resemble rotary phones: charming, nostalgic and fundamentally outdated. He spoke of AI-led schoolrooms to boardrooms.
If AI becomes the operating system of every company, he asks, can any business survive without embracing it?
3. Goodbye Inefficiency Economy, Hello Outcome Economy
Chandok says we lived in an ‘inefficiency’ economy. And he didn’t soften the point. “The longer it takes, the more money your lawyer or consultant or CA makes.”
Most people know this experience all too well: slow paperwork, dragged-out meetings, endless revisions and hourly bills that climb like a taxi meter stuck in traffic.
“This model is broken,” he said.
His alternative is the Outcome Economy, where AI does not bill by the hour and has no incentive to delay anything. Productivity becomes the norm rather than the accidental victory. “You give a one-time $20 and your task will be done without expanding billable hours”.
4. Every Business Will Build an ‘AI Factory’
Chandok asked, “If a model knows everything, what does your business know?”
His answer is that businesses will soon create their own foundation models, trained on their internal data, knowledge and processes. Each organisation will effectively build its own AI brain. These private models will sit alongside public ones – such as the massive public sector data centres and cloud system being built by Microsoft in India – offering companies a competitive edge through their unique knowledge.
But in that case, if a company’s custom AI system makes a mistake, who carries the responsibility?
Chandok didn’t dwell on the risks, but the potential remains enormous.
5. Jobs Will Be Unbundled, and Humans Must Keep Learning
This was Chandok at his most direct, “I have a bundled job, you all, everyone has bundles of tasks creating one job…. AI will dissect and force us to be better.”
He also addressed a very real and widespread fear– will AI steal our jobs? No, he suggests. Instead they will be broken into components, some handled by humans, others by AI. The threat is not automation itself but a refusal to evolve.
“Our old model, my fathers, my grandfathers, and even mine, was to learn once and live for the rest of your life… that industrial-era template is breaking.” He compared future learning to cardio: something continuous, a habit rather than a milestone.
“Our refusal to learn will be the cause of loss of jobs and not AI,” he warned. In his view, training, reskilling and experimentation are the new survival tools, “skilling is the oxygen mask for us.”
Though this can be a cause of concern for many. Is constant learning manageable for everyone, or will it widen the gap between those who can keep up and those who cannot?
Final question: Can Computers Truly Think?
Chandok thinks, yes, maybe. Referring to Sam Harris’s claim that intelligence belongs only to humans, he smiled and said, “I love Sam, but he is wrong.” Then he added, “Computers have cognition. We can give intelligence to computers.”
If that is true, the idea of wall-socket IQ upgrades suddenly sounds less absurd. However, if intelligence becomes unlimited and external, what makes our intelligence unique? Chandok didn’t pretend to have a definitive answer. What he said is that “we are entering an unmetered world,” and our mission is not to fight it but “to navigate this unfamiliar world.”
So, Will We Download IQ from Wall Sockets in Two Years?
Probably not in the literal sense. Chandok’s “50 IQ points from a wall socket” is a metaphor for a world where intelligence becomes as accessible as electricity. Always present, always flowing and always ready.
Whether that excites or unsettles you depends on your faith in how well we humans adapt to change.
But one thing is certain. India, he says, is surging ahead and “doing it like nobody else.” The wave is rising, and the country is prepared to ride it. And Microsoft has just offered $17.5 to do it – its largest ever investment in an Asian country.
Even if the sockets don’t boost IQ just yet, the spirit behind the idea is already here; intelligence on demand, digital colleagues by our side and a future where learning becomes a lifelong rhythm. The plug is ready. The future is turning on.
